High Karstic was an international auxiliary language developed from the dominant
Hearthheart dialect as it became a global trade language in the waning days of the
Karstinean 'golden age.'
Before the
Near Miss cast the global geopolitical order on
Karst into chaos, mass communications and diplomatic efforts towards the creation of a global governing body drove many academic and corporate interests to consider the benefits of creating a global language to go with it. The Hearthheart langage, spoken by the small but influential nation of
Hearthhart in the northeastern hemisphere, was already a popular second language due to its widespread presence in entertainment media at the time.
For this reason, the new language, dubbed (perhaps hubristically) 'High Karstic,' was crafted by reducing the phonological inventory of Hearthhart and formalizing its syllabary to make it easier for other nationalities to pronounce given their own native inventories. The syntax and grammar were also simplified to improve uptake, but this was done with the full understanding that, eventually, complexities would eventually work their ways back into the language once widespread adoption was achieved and new turns of phrase were required to encapsulate concepts foreign to doctrinaire Hearthheart.
Though it was a comparatively new development by the time of the Near Miss, High Karstic and pidgins thereof remain widespread and consititute some of the only remaining international bonds; though neighbors might slaughter one another over food, medicine, and scrap metal, they can at least attempt to negotiate in High Karstic. The overtly systematic nature of the language makes it very easy for large language models, like those used by
Cobalt Protectorate explorers, to learn and interpret - making it all the more disappointing that the
Iron Talon Mining Concern made little effort to do so in their wanton quest to exploit the carcass of the dying Karstinean global society.
Writing System
The High Karstic script is a syllabary, using individual glyphs to express individual consonant-vowel pairs. It is written from left to right, then top to bottom. Culturally, Karstineans prefer to write their script in a continuous line, only breaking when space no longer allows, as their previous writing systems often doubled as waterline indicators in flooded karst caverns; thus, nature itself could reveal new information over time.
Because their world is rich in carbonaceous and calciferous rock, Karstinean architecture was often built from, or given a facade of, limestone or marble. For this reason, most Karstinean scripts are meant to be carved into a surface rather than written with inks. High Karstic glyphs are no different, featuring long lines, sharp angles, and serifs to make the carving process easier and render the shapes of the glyphs much easier to pick out. Even though it was created in an era of printed works, the glyphs of High Karstic were often pressed deeply into the page where space allowed (i.e. newspapers), allowing even blind Karstineans to interpret them.
Syllables in High Karstic almost without exception take the CV form. The final vowel sound may be dropped in the case of a nasal (m/n) or sibilant (s). This morphology is reflected in High Karstic's writing system, which employs a syllabary. Words can be between one and five syllables long, not including modifiers.
High Karstic is loosely SVO. Free word order can be employed by appending modifiers before each part of the sentence, but this is generally done in informal or artistic contexts. Fixed word order is used in circumstances when the speaker doesn't know the person their speaking to; in formal contexts and official documentation, fixed word order is used alongside modifiers to provide a high degree of clarity. Verb prefix modifiers are also useful alongside conjugation in indicating what, or who, the indication action was taken towards (i.e. in the construction of "She gave me the accordion" versus "She gave the accordion (to someone)."
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