Alaic - Proto-language

The Language of the Lost World

Once upon a time, when mortals first arrived in the Known World, they spoke a tongue called Alaic. A derivative of the language of the gods themselves, it was the common tongue before Common evolved about 6000 years later. Spoken by the early peoples across vast territories before linguistic divergences, devastating cataclysms, and numerous instances of community isolation birthed what in time would become the modern languages.

Proto-language

Alaic is the proto-language of Avaleen. Created by the gods and given to mortals, it was the language of farmers and kings, sailors and scribes, lovers and warriors, and everyone in between. It is no longer spoken out loud, but is preserved in religious texts, on temple walls, in spell grimoires, and metaphysical theory. Sometimes people still come across stones with Alaic carved into them, and many idioms and linguistic quirks derive from this old tongue, even if the average speaker is unaware of it.

In modern Avaleen, the elves claim that Alaic is a gift from the stars (which, in part, is true) and insist that their language preserves its truest form. Though which elvish dialect remains a hot topic for debate. Scholars, especially Akati Triyes scribes, believe that Alaic is a perfect language to decode and temper arcana, hence their fascination with magical law and ward design. Spells cast in “true” Alaic are stronger, but generally much harder to cast, and only archmages can properly do it without danger, as it requires correct pronunciation, intent, and cadence.

Development

All mortals, regardless of race, spoke Alaic in the early days. But as migration happened, so did the language evolve. 2500 years after the first peoples arrived on Avaleen, Alaic could be distinguished in two separate branches: Western Alaic and Eastern Alaic.

Over the next couple of thousand years, the races began to separate into distinct cultures, which became nations and wandering tribes.

Western Alaic

Western Alaic, with its musical flow and soft sounds, branched out into the Thiralic branch and the Akharic branch. Out of the modern-day languages, the Vaeleri Elvish and the Akati languages come closest to sounding like the original Alaic language.

Thiralic languages

Derived from the Alaic word thira, meaning threads, this branch contains the Elvish languages, which are characterized by their lyrical cadence, case-heavy structure, and non-linear syntax.

Includes:

·       High Elvish (Ael’saelin, Synnaran)

·       Low Elvish (Vaelari, Silvareni, Dorithic)

·       Sylvan dialects

·       Thalmen Dwarfish

Akharic languages

Derived from the Alaic word akhar, meaning pillar or structure, this is the Akati family language tree. These languages seldom use contraction, but rather precise language and long vowels.

Includes:

·       High Akati

·       Mora Akati

·       Triyes Akati

·       Aadam Akati

·       Roya Akati

·       Common Akati

·       Trade Elvish

·       Zionian

Eastern Alaic

Eastern Alaic contained harsher, guttural sounds and more clipped language styles which the more hardy races and individuals adopted more readily. It branched out into the Ilvenic branch and the Skarnic branch, which in turn branched out again into the Ilun branch after roughly 700 years.

Ilvenic languages

These are characterized by being broad, adaptable, and with a distinct lilting cadence that’s still present today. Most notably in Sangoran. Derived from ilven, a nickname for early illevan laborers, this branch evolved into the languages of both working class, traders, and travelers. Modern Common derives from here.

Includes.

·       Old Illevan

·       Sundermark Creole

·       Common

·       Thalmen Dwarfish

·       River Cant

·       Sangoran

Skarnic languages

Named after the root-word skaeren, meaning sharp stone, this group contains languages spoken by wandering tribes and isolated civilizations, meaning it has seen the least evolution since its initial development.

Includes:

·       Noma (which remains the least changed from the original Eastern Alaic)

·       Mountain Dwarfish

·       Draconic

·       Many nomadic dialects in Ala and northern Khorun

Ilun languages

Ilun means sacred silence in Eastern Alaic and it refers to the twisted languages that arose from corrupted Alaic, mostly used in necromancy, void magic, or the speech of the Hollow Legion.

Includes:

·       Undercommon

·       Abyssal

·       Infernal

·       The Hollow Tongue

·       Nether Speech

·       Bloodscript

Alphabet

Alaic is written in the Lirendar Script, often called Loomscript by commoners. Sentences flow across the surface like ribbons, curving, looping, and knotting around each other. Margins are oftentimes filled with semantic glyphs that alter the main text’s tone or intent, providing a kind of meta-language.

Phonetics & Grammar

Alaic sounds are soft and vowel-rich, but weighted down by sharp consonants like sk, vr, dr, th, kh, and ll. The resulting tone is lyrical yet firm and dignified, a language that carries a small legacy of the gods' language. The language has no grammatical gender; however, symbolic pairs such as light/dark, root/flower, and stillness/motion convey metaphysical balance rather than binary roles.

Common syllables: -ra, -an, -val, -ir, -en, -tha, -ur

Alaic grammar is highly fusional, with richly layered inflectional forms that encode multiple grammatical, syntactic, and semantic features within single morphemes. As a synthetic language, Alaic differs from agglutinative tongues (like modern Akati or Thirawyn dialects) by combining several functions, such as number, case, tense, and aspect, into compact word endings or internal shifts.

For example, the verb chandren (to weave) appears in the form chandrel, which conveys not only first-person singular, but also imperfective aspect and active voice, all within a single suffix. Changing the subject or aspect requires a full alteration of the morpheme, not just the addition of discrete particles.

Another illustration of Alaic’s fusional nature is seen in the adjective valen ("shard-like" or "fragmented"). The ending -en marks singular, neuter, and nominative simultaneously. If shifted to valar, it signals plural, animate, and accusative, a change that alters not just agreement but also perceived function in the sentence, as Alaic often blends grammar with symbolic weight.

In this way, Alaic relies on compact, inflected forms to encode multiple dimensions of meaning at once. Shifting just one aspect—such as number or case—requires replacing the entire suffix or root-inflected segment, making the language intricate and deeply interpretive. Mastery of Alaic was thus both a linguistic discipline and a metaphysical art, especially in legal, liturgical, and magical contexts. This is why it became simplified by the lower classes.

Legacy

Avaleen’s proto-language still has a lasting impact on modern languages, though it isn’t apparent everywhere anymore. For example, the Alaic word vala (shard, fragment) is the etymological ancestor of valen, which is Common for magic crystals used by sorcerers as a focus.

Despite being extinct as a spoken language, it left a deep cultural and linguistic imprint. Not only in loan words that to the younger generation sound outdated and old-fashioned, but also in idioms, liturgical phrases, and ritual terminology. Many expressions in Elvish and Akati are direct descendants or paraphrases of Alaic idioms:

“Fractured like vala” is used to describe someone whose mind or spirit has splintered.

“Sharp tongue” stems from skaeren, meaning precisely sharp.

“Seize the day”, where seize stems from chandra, which is thought to have been changed on the high seas, where it made sense to use voiceless fricatives to cut through the wind.

The High Elvish word valethir (light-thread) is a poetic term for both sunlight and moonlight, drawn directly from the Alaic words vala and thira. In Akati, chandrak means to entangle/ensnare in the Ignis dialect, but to weave in Triyes.

Magical Influence

Many rituals, especially those involving Old Magic or Natural Magic, contain Alaic chants and inscriptions. While the literal meaning eludes many, they are nevertheless treated as potent. It is also well known that spells written in Alaic are more stable, more powerful, and more dangerous.

After being harvested, the Orbs of Shimbhala that power the Wards of the Akati Empire are engraved in Alaic, giving them a primordial strength and connection to the Weave and the Veil.

The Threadbinders are a group of archivists who learn Alaic to interpret ancient treaties and divine intentions from ancient texts. It is also a requirement for the initiates to the Loom-Keepers of Thar-Velyn to be fluent in Lirendar Script.

Example of linguistic evolution with the phrase: "Thread light through broken silence."

“Thread the light” is a much used idiom in Modern Common, meaning to keep navigating hardships with hope and grace. What many don’t know is that this idiom stems from an old Alaic phrase used for funeral rites: “Chandraval athir skaeren ilun draveth.” In this context it meant roughly to “weave light through broken silence and cut away illusion/deception.”

Classic High Elvish has a similar phrase “Velthiral en’athrin skaerenae ilun’tai.” This phrase borrows many root words from Alaic and means “Let threads of the moon rebuild the shattered quiet.”

Triyes Akati has a similar phrase that says “Chandrak’tir vala ilunev” (Weave light from quiet stone) as does Old Illevan “Wev thrádos úr steinn-róa.” (Threads of light from quiet stone.)