Expanded language-interaction system designed to make languages and dialects more important, realistic and immersive.
In Hammercoast games, the Common language is divided into dialects of varying mutual intelligibility, due to the complex history of regional cultures and the downfall of the Empire and Imperial tongue.
If your dialect is influenced by another, you receive an effective +1 bonus to your fluency in it.
Common dialects:
Imperial
(mennish) - A clear-spoken, somber tongue with a
German-Latin sound, constructed largely during the Imperial period.
A traditional-liturgical-military language once in common use that
disseminated into other Hammercoast languages, especially Corbani,
but isn’t used commonly outside of Deedland and certain Corbani or
Imperial-traditionalist orders. Influenced by Redisle and
somewhat by Corbani.
Coastal, aka Corbani (mennish) - An Anglo-Saxon-sounding, direct tongue of commoners, knights, seamen, etc. The lingua-franca dialect, second only to Eesdamsch in the central and south. Influenced by Imperial, Shepardi, Redisle, and somewhat by Eesdamsch.
Vale, aka Eesdamsch (mennish, elven) - A rolling, Dutch-sounding considered cultured and pretty by some, and horrid and archaic by some, especially northerners. Influenced by Middlespeak and Redisle.
Middlespeak, aka Half Elf (mennish, elven) - A mash of elven, Eesdamsch, Corbani, and Imperial used as a mothertongue to many half-elves, (especially Ilmori) and a semi-universal language between men and elves. Influenced by Elvish, Eesdamsch.
Winerspeak, Shepardi (mennish) - A simple, guttural Northern-European-sounding tongue, brought to the mainland by northern invaders, where it influenced Corbani especially with a number of loanwords, and may share a common ancestry.
Hillspeak, aka Hill Elf (elven, mennish) - A hill-elven, mennish language with simple sentence structure and a myriad of loanwords. Influenced by elven, Middlespeak, Decydoc gnomish, Corbani, and somewhat by Corbani and Eesdamsch.
Redspeak, aka Redisle (mennish) - A Latin-French-sounding tongue, known for its prestige and difficulty. Original tongue of the Red Prince and Red Islanders from where he came. Influenced by Imperial, Corbani.
Greenspeak, aka Sunderi (mennish, goblin) - An ever-varying mashup of mennish, elven, goblinish and trollish tongues, with simplified sentence structure and a lot of shouting and hand-waving. Influenced by Goblin, Middlespeak, Eesdamsch, Hillspeak, and somewhat by Corbani.
Other Hammercoast languages:
Goblin - A squealy, screeching, fast-moving tongue full of Z’s and Zch’s spoken by goblins and less-civilized greens and even some southerners. Mostly mutually intelligible depending on purity/region.
Gnomish - A Celtic-sounding tongue the western gnomes speak. Foreign, but not wholly difficult for most mennish speakers to learn.
Mostsouth (mennish) - A distinct mennish tongue unintelligible with Hammercoast tongues, spoken in the Southern Isles and Rol, especially the south coast and western trade lanes. Influenced somewhat by Imperial.