Risivi

Risivi is an extinct language, the tongue of the Viri. Its closest living descendent is Ris, the language of the Chasm-Dwellers. It has influenced every native language of the Teardrop Sea Islands, even those of different language families, due to the influence of the Ancient Viri Empire.   Risivi fell out of use when the majority of its speakers were slaughtered during Allshadow's genocide of the Viri. Typically, the Viri had only spoken Risivi to each other, so there were no other native speakers. The language survived a while longer through the survivors of the campaign, but eventually died out as speakers became isolated from each other.  

Slang and Idioms

  Many terms from Risivi have made their way into the common vernacular. They exist in all spoken languages in the region, reflecting the prevailing influence of the Viri culture on those that outlived it. Some common features of those idioms are food, which was a big part of Viri culture, and the Viri's death-defying attitude, that still lingers in the Teardrop Sea Islands' population nearly 20,000 years later. They were also avid astronomers, so features of the Mirror Lakes sky often featured prominently in their expressions. Some examples of Risivi idioms which are still in use today:  

"Cheese cube"

Meaning: coward. Equivalent of an English speaker being called a chicken. "Or are you a cheese cube?" Origin: cubes of gorgondeeza (carcinogenic cheese) were eaten as forfeits in ancient daredevil games  

"Poison in the pudding"

Meaning: the end / the answer to a question. "There's the poison in the pudding" - "It's the poisoned pudding" Origin: traditional pudding roulette.  

"Chocolate twin"

Meaning: a foolish endeavor to make oneself important that's doomed to failure/not properly thought through. "His idea was a chocolate twin" Origin: myth about a man who fashioned himself a twin out of magic chocolate that brought it to life, but the twin ended up eaten by cocoa hogs.  

"Purple star"

Meaning: a very rare occurrance. Equivalent of blue moon in English. In some cases, it is used to describe something which is absent for a long time, and then three occur at once. "An apology from you is like a purple star." Origin: a celestial event occurring every few centuries which makes three specific stars in the sky appear purple.  

"Rare as stardust"

Meaning: used more to describe rarity of tactile things than events. "A man with common sense around here is as rare as stardust" Origin: refers not to actual stardust, but faux stardust. When it was first discovered, it was thought to be real stardust. While in a few regions the expression has become "rare as faux stardust", overall it is the only context in which the substance is still referred to as stardust.  

"Eating lavender"

Meaning: taking a fifty-fifty chance / unknown odds between two options. Especially when there is high stakes, but not exclusively; it's often used as hyperbole. "Placing a bet on this match is eating lavender" Origin: there are two strains of lavender in the Mirror Lakes, indistinguishable by sight or odor; one poisonous, one benign. Eating the poison one is unequivocally fatal.