Fulthrik

The language of the Dwarves of Truehold. Because of the generally egalitarian nature of the society it doesn't have honorifics beyond descriptive job titles, nor does it have a formal or informal register. It supports highly precise and technical descriptions spoken quickly. Speaking tends to be terse and to the point, with little decoration or florid language.

Influences

It has limited outside influences until the prelude of the Third Nexus War beyond the language of the Giants of Truehold and itenrant Goblins. As such it is very consistent in its grammar and vocabulary with few loan words.

Dwarven Iconoclasts

With the Iconoclasts spreading across Thousand Seas they have picked up many loan words from the various Islander dialects of the Southeast Chain and the Sultanate. As they spread they have started adding Nexus Mercantile to the mix. In the Southeast Chain Fulthrik is quickly becoming a pidgin language taking on flamboyant grammar and being influenced by the poetics of Sultanate writing.

Dwarven Exiles

Before the Third Nexus War individuals and even full volks fled to Nexus to avoid suppression by the Volkstahl. While Fulthrik continued to be a home language, it was not spoken in public, especially as they were forced from Nexus as the war began.

Disillusioned Legions

During the Accords Era, more and more dwarves trapped in the Forehold became disillusioned by the Volkstahl's dedication to their "True Dwarf" philosophy and abandoned the Forehold. While colonies and ghettos outside the Forehold did hold onto speaking Fulthrik within them, they tended to adopt the local language as their primary language within a generation. While it didn't lead to the language taking on loan words, it is often spoken by switching between languages to use words or concepts Fulthrik doesn't have.

Writing System

Fulthrik has a geometric runic writing system that can be easily chiseled into stone. Lines of individual runes connect at ninety or forty-five degrees to each other. It can easily be read through touch or in deeply shadowed light. It has thirty symbols, twenty five of them are consonants with only five vowels.

Names

Dwarven names tend to be one to two syllables long, with the surface names tending towards one drawn-out syllable names. They follow the habit of surface names using softer phonemes and underground names having sharper phonemes.

Underground

Surface

Vocabulary

• Athuj n. /æθuʤ/ - Axe
• chit /ʧɪt/ - Lowest denomination of currency made of copper
• dhuk n. /ðuk/ - Pickaxe
• dreling /driliŋ/ - insulting a person who needs light
• drelingne /driliŋni/ - insulting a group of people who need light
• drog /drɔg/ - swear word
• kal /kɑl/ - mine
• mern /'mɝrn/ - dovetail joint
• ravak n. /rævlak/ plural ravlakne /rævlakni/ - Type of nut
• skahl /skɑl/ - A distilled alcohol from root vegetables.
• skrip /skrɪp/ - Middle denomination of currency made of silver
• stahl /stɑhl/- steel
• stahlrupen /stɑhlrʊpɛn/ - Volkstahl stormtrooper
• Utrir /ʊtrir/ - Organization around a trade that manages the trade.
• volk /volk/ - An extended family unit, only one instantiation of a volk per settlement.
• volkadz /volkɑdz/ -The home of the volk. Typically a wooden longhouse on the surface or an enclosed series of tunnels and caverns underground.
• volklith /volklɪθ/ - A stone that the history of the volk is carved into. It also is the repository of the souls of the volk's dead.
• Volkstahl /volkstɑhl/ - Facist movement, Steel of the Volk
• zeklumdor /ziklʊmdɔr/ - steam engine

Phonemes

Each mountain is made up of three settlements, the Surface villages, the Midhold were the majority of population and industry occurs, and the Deepmines and their language reflects this. The deeper underground a topic is related to the sharper the phonemes are. The more surface related the softer the phonemes are.