Sarathi (sah-RAH-thee)

Sarathi is believed to be the universal language spoken in the Age of Magic. All documents that pre-date The Shattering fount in Polira are written in Sarathi. Since that time, languages have drifted due to separation of the survivors of the cataclysm, among other factors. In Polira, there is one place where one can still hear Sarathi spoken, however, and that is in any Maionene Temple. All their liturgies and rituals are performed in the old language.   Sarathi differs from modern Poliran in several ways. The first major difference is word order. In Poliran, it is customary to put the subject first, then the verb, and then the object. In Sarathi the verb comes first, then who or what is doing the verb, and finally who or what the verb is being done to. For instance, instead of saying "The girl throws the ball", in Sarathi it would look like "Throws the girl the ball".   This leads to the second major difference, which is noun declension. Poliran does not use noun declension in any formal way, relying on word order to convey the meaning of the sentence. Sarathi has two noun cases, the nominative, for the subject, and the accusative, for the object. This way, the listener knows which noun is which no matter where in the sentence they are.   Few teach Sarathi outside of religious training, and it is rare to find a Poliran who truly understands it, outside of memorized rituals and prayers. Even a common book of myths would contain side-by-side translations in both Sarathi and Poliran. It is unknown if Sarathi survived in other countries, and if so, in what form.   Critics say the Temple should acknowledge that times have changed, and update their liturgies to Poliran, but the current Varein rejects such notions. Her official stance is that the Maionene religion should be universal, and therefore, its rituals should be spoken in the universal dialect.