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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5100011" data-attributes="member: 177">10,000 years is a bit more than "archaic".  In human terms that's longer than we've had written langauge!  10,000 years ago, the last ice age was ending.  We were just figuring out agriculture, were still using stone tools, and so on.  Nothing even remotely akin to our modern languages existed.So, we probably want to posit this baddie's got some semi-magical way to learn languages (and that's okay, he's basically an evil spirit, right?)  More properly, though, he can be repeatedly surprised by inventions - this wheel thing, for example, probably keeps surprising him.  Human use of metal tools and/or magic at all might be a new thing to him.Of course, he's terribly old and terribly clever, so this won't stop him.  But it will allow for him to be occasionally surprised, and to slip up due to erroneous assumptions and expectations.Makes for great insults, though.  "Good to see your species has finally gotten past grunting and hand gestures.  You'll make better slaves this way...."</blockquote>