Languages in Elanthia

[Parker]

I don't know if this particular topic has been approached before, though I know a few, at least, have probably thought about it.

We have several professions in Elanthia...
Fletching, Forging, Enchanting are ones that come to mind.

These all require incredibly large amounts of time and effort to master. To some, it's very worth it, to others, they don't see it as being a worthy cause, while they could be training. Either way, it's a potential roleplaying aspect, and I think that everyone can agree that it's a pretty good system, right?

I was speaking with a friend last night, and she roleplays a character in Vaalor who is a human. She's pretty well known around the fortress, and her RP is centered specifically on Vaalor. The character has picked up a lot of elven traits, and is roleplayed very smartly. Now, in a practical sense, a girl who's been in Vaalor, in the elven nations, for that long, should have been hearing elves speaking Elven for quite some time. Wouldn't it stand to reason that eventually she'd learn the language?

I know of manycharacters whose RP's are based around different races. Mine for instance, was raised IG by a pair of sylphs, though he is Elven. He's picked up mannerisms of the Sylvankind. Being raised by sylphs, couldn't he speak the language?

I was wondering if it's been considered to have a process so that a character can learn another language. For instance, could humans in the Nations go to, say, the library in Illistim and study the Elven language? I'm not sure exactly how the mechanic would work, but I could certainly see it being plausible. We have other proffessions, why not linguists?

Just food for thought, I'd like to gather some more info about it, seeing as how I don't even know if this subject has been considered before.


Unsure if this thread should be in here, or elsewhere...If I put it in the wrong place, please let me know, and you have my apologies.

[StrayRogue]

Its been an idea for years now. No idea if the GM's want or have to plans to do it. But I agree with you. Some of the GS races live thousands of years so I bet most will pick up other languages. I guess its something we can hope to see in the future, RSN.

[Wezas]

Off topic a bit - but I wonder if they will do something similar in WoW. If you go into skills - language is one of them and your base languages have a full bar (300). At some point you'd think you can start to understand a few words. Perhaps a skill in the future.

GS4 should try something similar. Perhaps a psuedo-skill that requires time and practice (but not use up skill points). After some training you can pick out certain words out of what they're saying - and when fully trained you can talk just like them.

Going from "Wezas says, "cw trying to cwcersn"

To eventually "Wezas says, "I'm trying to understand" in broken elven"

[StrayRogue]

Yes, they are doing languages eventually. Theres also mods out there that allow you to decipher the chatter from apposing sides.

[Wezas]

Originally posted by StrayRogue
Yes, they are doing languages eventually. Theres also mods out there that allow you to decipher the chatter from apposing sides.

Can't wait to speak cow.

As for GS4 - I doubt it'll ever happen.

[Fission]

It'll never happen in GS4, no matter how much sense it might make.

My main has been with any number of elves over the past ten years, still can't understand word one of elven.

The sad part is, they've got systems in place for garbling or breaking your language like mentioned above, with the harder drinks.

:duh:

[StrayRogue]

I don't see why it will never happen personally.

[Parker]

Alright, so I've learned something, at least...

It's been thought of. Has anyone actually spent the time to talk to any GM's about it? I've been playing the game for several years, but to me, GM's just seem to be relatively remote, and removed...not exactly the type of people to start a regular conversation with.

I'd love to see it happen, and make it happen if I could, because I think that there are definitely those out there that have the mentality for it...
Being a scholar is just as legitimate as being an enchanter or Blacksmith.

[StrayRogue]

There was a big thread devoted to it in the official's Roleplaying folder. A number of GM's chimed in.

[Parker]

I'm not currently at home, and I'm behind a proxy which is blocking me from those boards...fill me in on that situation?

What'd the GM's say?

[Myitkyina]

there's also a thread about this in the bard folders...

the basic argument for it is that bards wander from town to town, playing their music (the wandering minstrel model for bards, as opposed to the keep your bard planted in the landing for merchanting purposes model), and should therefore have some special skills... like the ability to have partial citizenship in more than one town (which a lot of people want because their bards are merchants) and learn the languages of other areas, to some extent.

there was some talk about having this coded so that whenever you try to speak/hear languages that aren't your own they come out as garbled in some way (missing words perhaps, or the order mixed up) but this would get better as you acquired more skill. The other thought was to use words outside the quotation marks to indicate less than perfect language skill (like they do for the winged critters already).

I believe this was a suggestion for a bard guild skill. I seem to remember someone with a red name saying it sounded like a good idea, but that, of course, means nothing. I've never heard any talk of bards ever getting guild skills, and I seriously doubt it's a priority for the GMs.

[Edited on 5-3-2005 by Myitkyina]

[ElanthianSiren]

Never will happen in GS cuz they'd want people to spend TPs for it most likely :rolleyes:

GS really needs to go to a skill based/iteration system and ditch the whole profession BS. It limits them severely imo. I realize they can't do that though because it would require ditching the ability to script as well.


-Melissa

[Jolena]

I agree completely that there should be some type of skill done similar to forging, fletching, etc. that would allow a character to study a particular language and as they gain knowledge and skill, their speaking abilities grow more consistent and understandable. I know my human rogue would definately do this as she was raised by Sylvans, and I RP that she can understand some of it, however she can't speak it. It makes perfect sense that she would be able to speak Sylvan over time.

As to the mention of Bards being able to do so, I think that's a great idea, but I wouldn't limit it to a profession only. If it's done, and I don't think it will be, it should be open to anyone of any race of any profession to learn if they so choose. Not using TP's but using time and effort as the Artisan skills are set up to be.

[Czeska]

I talked with a GM Mitra (who I think went to HJ? ) and with Melissa about it at Simucon last year, was a decent conversation, lots of "how to's"

But yeah.. no time soon.

[Parker]

Well, that's pretty sad. I thought it was a decent idea, but really, it's probably just a pipe-dream.

It bugs me though, that it would probably take one decently-motivated GM only a few days to code the entire system. A lot of the framework is there for the system which allows people to get drunk. Where's the justice?:(

[Viridian]

I'm still waiting for them to give humans dialects....I think Humans deserve dialects.

Praying for a Tehir dialect.

[ElanthianSiren]

Invent your own. The dhe'nari language was invented by a player, I believe. Bleeds' player invented most of the Huntress lore, again, I think.

I think there is way too much focus in GS these days of "A gm said so, so now it's okay." That really bugs me. Do what you want to do. Often, if you present something as acceptable and reiterate that it's acceptable, people will believe it's acceptable -- as per the two examples above.

-Melissa

[fallenSaint]

SWG had a nice setup for Smugglers who learned other languages in one of their skill trees ... then they turned around and made that pointless since any character could teach another their native language.