Elyor

The ancient language of the elves - "the voice of magic in the wind, the call of the wild itself". Once, legends say, it was spoken across all of Aradia. Then the elven empire fell, all that remained of its former splendor burned and destroyed. Centuries of collected knowledge, gone - and with them, all written record of the language. Years of slavery and hardship forced the elves to forget how to speak it - those who tried had their tongues cut out or otherwise mutilated. Even uttering the words of Elyor was outlawed.   These days, Elyor survives in but a few spoken words that have been passed down from elf to elf for generations among the Free People. What is commonly known as 'Elvish' by people is a shadow of the formerly fluid and beautiful language, carrying traces of Elyor with heavy Alltongue influences. For example, it is believed that the original Elyor had only four consonants, while the current-day Elvish has the same amount of them as Alltongue. Elves that still retain what little written Elyor remains (in forms of pages from books or recollections from older elves) protect these scraps of knowledge fiercely, even going as far as to paint them onto their skin. It is from this tradition that many of the Clan symbols of various clans of the Free People come from.   Elyor is considered a dead language by scholars, and while its use is no longer outlawed, some still perceive elven languages to be lesser than human ones.