Elder's Warning

Phrase

Be ment uivlils /bə mɛnt œy̯ˈvlɪls/

Lit. “Something feels dangerous.”

Shortened in ritual speech to just Ment uivlils (“Something dangerous”).

Literal Meaning

A recognition of danger sensed but not yet seen, often believed to come directly from the mountain itself.

Cultural Context

Users: Reserved for Ta elders, especially those who serve as miners’ foremen and keepers of ancestral traditions.

Spoken in: Life-or-death moments — before a mining collapse, avalanche, storm, or battle. Never in jest.

Conveys: Reverence and warning. When uttered, it meant more than suspicion — it was treated as the mountain’s own voice channeled through the elder.

Origins / History

Rooted in early Ta mining myths, where elders listened for the “breath” of the stone. One legend tells of Elder Vrendang, who warned, “Be ment uivlils,” moments before a cavern collapsed, saving his clan.

During the Triad Wars, it became ritualized: before great campaigns, Ta elders would invoke the phrase to decide whether the earth itself allowed the battle.

Pecou records call it the “Stone Oracle” phrase, though they misunderstood it as prophecy rather than sensory intuition.

Symbolism

Imagery: Cracks in stone, the rumble before collapse, the breath of the earth warning its children.

Gestures: Elders lay a hand flat on the ground or cavern wall while speaking, symbolizing their role as conduit between Ta and stone.

Associations: Authority, survival, the sacred bond between miners and mountain.

Modern Usage

Among the Ta, still sacred. Only elders, or those acknowledged as “stone-voices,” may speak it. To misuse it is a grave taboo.

Humans translate it loosely as Elder’s Warning, often stripping away the sacredness, treating it as just a poetic idiom for “something feels wrong.”

Variants

Ta (original): Be ment uivlils — “Something feels dangerous.” Sacred form.

Shortened (ritual): Ment uivlils — uttered when time is too short for full form.

Pecou (borrowed): Buap curse gla — “Noise keeps the homeland.” Used in myths as a phrase of divine warning, misattributing it to gods rather than mountains.

Kiwta (adapted): Raitsdt sysche — “Silence so sharp.” Reinterpreted to mean the silence before disaster, rather than the warning itself.

Human (misused): “Amiss,” or simply The Warning, used casually to mean suspicion or bad feeling, losing the Ta’s sacred nuance.