Af Idwelli

The af idwelli are a set of 52 characters which are used to write a wide variety of languages in the Desert Coast region.   As with its parent script, the af ulmedi, it is partially bicameral, with each consonant having an upper and lower case form, while the vowels have only one form that is used with either upper or lower case consonants. The system of af idwelli also shares the tradition of inscribing vowels above the letter for the preceding consonant, although this custom varies substantially from language to language.  

History

  The af idwelli were first developed approximately 5,000 years ago in the Fallewen Region by a small enclave of elves who called themselves the High Austerity. Prior to this point, the af ulmedi lis had been used to write down any texts in Ancient Elvish. However, the High Austerity found these symbols inefficient for Elvish, as Primordial (for which the af ulmedi had been developed) has very different consonants and vowels from Ancient Elvish, which is a linguistic descendant of Sylvan.   As a solution to writing their own language, the High Austerity adapted and simplified the characters of the af ulmedi and assigned each character to the phonemes of Ancient Elvish. The new system, called af idwelli or 'intellectual letters' by the High Austerity, quickly became widespread among elves in the region.  

Adaptation to Other Languages

Within a few decades, the af idwelli had been adapted for use by many other groups of people and languages, the most notable of these being what would later become known as the Common language. As the recognized script of magic, science, literature, and government across the Desert Coast and Fallewen and the surrounding regions, there is an accepted af idwelli system for nearly every language spoken in those areas. Although the af idwelli were very frequently insufficient for the nuances of other languages, it is in continued use to the present day.  

Af Nithoni and Af Thusissi

There are two notable variants of the af idwelli; the af nithoni and the af thusissi.   The af thusissi are a set of calligraphic variants for af idwelli characters, and are often used for writing important governmental documents, works of art, and holy texts.   The af nithoni are a relatively recent phenomenon, invented approximately 500 years ago by a wizard halfling or gnome by the name of Anibrel Nithen. It is a shorthand system or script which is based mostly on the af idwelli but also borrows heavily from the af ulmedi and the Draconic Syllabary. Its original purpose was to compress magical texts in order to save on the limited paper space in Nithen's spellbook. Nithen also used the shorthand system in correspondence with several other wizards in the region, and within the past two centuries, the af nithoni have become a sort of written lingua franca among the scattered magical community.