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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 9639302" data-attributes="member: 6787503">I don't play 5.2, but, in my 5.0 games, the Elvish languages have a common root in the language the elves invented for themselves to speak in the home of their origin on the Material Plane as an expression of their intrinsic ability to do so. Over tens of millennia, it has evolved into a number of mutually unintelligible dialects spoken by the various kindreds:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The language spoken by the Eladrin is closest to the original Elvish, having been brought by them as they migrated, within several thousand years of their origin, into the Feywild where it has since been preserved in an unchanging or slowly changing state, although there may be some influence from the language of the Fey.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The High Elves speak what is most commonly referred to as Elvish. It originated among the elves of a great forested region which was destroyed in a cataclysmic flood a few thousand years ago and now lies lost beneath the waves. The refugees from that disaster (the High Elves) spread its use over the adjoining areas of the continent as well as taking it with them as they migrated into the Feywild, which they still do as they grow tired of life on the Material Plane. Their language is most closely related to the language of the Sea Elves and, at a somewhat greater distance, that of the Wood Elves.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Wood Elves speak a few different languages or dialects depending on region. Elvish proper may be used as a lingua franca between these groups. The languages spoken in some of the darker forests may be influenced by those of the Dark Elves who became assimilated into their cultures.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Dark Elves speak several different languages which developed from the common root of the original Elvish as they spread out over the world. These languages may have been influenced by that of the dwarves with whom they have relations, trading or otherwise.</li> </ul>Of course, I'm speaking here in general terms, and each individual is shaped by their own personal history.Several other possibly related languages were mentioned on which I'd also like to give my personal take:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fey speech is one of the languages devised by spirits I call "hallows" for their use within the "created world" which lays between the Positive and Negative Planes. The hallows have their origin in the Positive Plane. Those who came to reside in the Upper Planes are called celestials, of which there are both angelic and genial types. Likewise, those found in the Lower Planes are called fiends, and their types are diabolical and/or demonic. Those who took up residence in the Inner Planes are the Fey. They originally primarily inhabited the Material Plane. Some created material bodies for their inhabitation and devised a form of speech by which they could communicate in their physical forms. They continued to use this language after they retreated into the Feywild.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sylvan is the language of the Treants, aka "Sylphs". It's based on a form of Elvish because the treants had no ability to speak on their own, and it had to be taught to them by the elves. Once they had learned how to speak, however, they modified the language to suit their purposes and made it their own.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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