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How far will your Druids go to keep their language secret?
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<blockquote data-quote="Gez" data-source="post: 1938450" data-attributes="member: 1328"><p>IMC, druidic is a cumbersome language. Not really a language, even, rather a sort of code. Letters, sounds/syllables and concepts are associated to trees (for a simplist example, a fir tree would be associated to the f letter, the frrr sound and the concept of fire -- I haven't bothered elaborating an actual alphabet). And of course, a tree means itself also. Our fir tree could symbolise fire, or just fir trees.</p><p></p><p>Then, someting "written" in Druidic is disguised. A ring of tree in a grove could actually be a sentence. A necklade of leaves and nutshells could be a message in Druidic.</p><p></p><p>There are several levels of Druidic. The alphabet one is used to transcribe any language -- usually sylvan or common, but it could as well be gnome or elven or aquan or infernal... The syllabic one is likewise used to transcribe phonetically any language, but by the very nature of the limited list of sounds available, is more suited to some (like sylvan) than to others (like celestial) that use different sounds.</p><p>The third level, the conceptual one, does not allow to make actual sentences, as it will just be a string of unarticulated ideas. Raw druidic isn't really a language, as it has no grammar. But it's sufficient to leave messages like "water/danger/dragon/aberrant", a druid would decipher it as meaning there's a dangerous, unnatural dragonlike creature in the nearby lake, for example.</p><p></p><p>So, how can one teach druidic to a non-druid? Well, by first teaching said non-druid how to recognize the different trees.</p><p></p><p>Given that, just among oaks, an oak (Quercus suber) is not the same as an oak (Quercus ilex), and that both are different from the oak (Quercus pedunculata), which is not to be confused with the oak (Quercus virginiana), it's a language that's kinda hard to learn for those who do not have a good score in Knowledge (Nature).</p><p></p><p>Then, one needs to know to learn how to differentiate between a natural occurence (several different trees is something natural in a forest, after all) and a message left by a druid. This is where Survival is still, in a way, Wilderness Lore, for it is indeed a lore.</p><p></p><p>Even subtler, ones needs to learn to guess the level of druidic which is used -- especially given that a given sentence in druidic may combine several levels. You'd have a message that would read like this, for example:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>ram</strong> <strong>lion</strong> <strong>eagle</strong> K O R <em>din</em> W <strong>ant</strong> <strong>numerous</strong> <strong>game</strong> O F <em>frr</em> I N G <em>frrr</em> <strong>passage</strong></p><p>Read correctly, it says that the Hieracosphinx Kordhinn wants to be given an offering of game before he let people pass through his territory. Read incorrectly, it's gibberish.</p><p></p><p>What's my point?</p><p></p><p>Well, it is that, by teaching druidic to a non-druid, one is actually starting to teach said person how to be a druid.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gez, post: 1938450, member: 1328"] IMC, druidic is a cumbersome language. Not really a language, even, rather a sort of code. Letters, sounds/syllables and concepts are associated to trees (for a simplist example, a fir tree would be associated to the f letter, the frrr sound and the concept of fire -- I haven't bothered elaborating an actual alphabet). And of course, a tree means itself also. Our fir tree could symbolise fire, or just fir trees. Then, someting "written" in Druidic is disguised. A ring of tree in a grove could actually be a sentence. A necklade of leaves and nutshells could be a message in Druidic. There are several levels of Druidic. The alphabet one is used to transcribe any language -- usually sylvan or common, but it could as well be gnome or elven or aquan or infernal... The syllabic one is likewise used to transcribe phonetically any language, but by the very nature of the limited list of sounds available, is more suited to some (like sylvan) than to others (like celestial) that use different sounds. The third level, the conceptual one, does not allow to make actual sentences, as it will just be a string of unarticulated ideas. Raw druidic isn't really a language, as it has no grammar. But it's sufficient to leave messages like "water/danger/dragon/aberrant", a druid would decipher it as meaning there's a dangerous, unnatural dragonlike creature in the nearby lake, for example. So, how can one teach druidic to a non-druid? Well, by first teaching said non-druid how to recognize the different trees. Given that, just among oaks, an oak (Quercus suber) is not the same as an oak (Quercus ilex), and that both are different from the oak (Quercus pedunculata), which is not to be confused with the oak (Quercus virginiana), it's a language that's kinda hard to learn for those who do not have a good score in Knowledge (Nature). Then, one needs to know to learn how to differentiate between a natural occurence (several different trees is something natural in a forest, after all) and a message left by a druid. This is where Survival is still, in a way, Wilderness Lore, for it is indeed a lore. Even subtler, ones needs to learn to guess the level of druidic which is used -- especially given that a given sentence in druidic may combine several levels. You'd have a message that would read like this, for example: [indent][b]ram[/b] [b]lion[/b] [b]eagle[/b] K O R [i]din[/i] W [b]ant[/b] [b]numerous[/b] [b]game[/b] O F [i]frr[/i] I N G [i]frrr[/i] [b]passage[/b][/indent] Read correctly, it says that the Hieracosphinx Kordhinn wants to be given an offering of game before he let people pass through his territory. Read incorrectly, it's gibberish. What's my point? Well, it is that, by teaching druidic to a non-druid, one is actually starting to teach said person how to be a druid. [/QUOTE]
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