Virellan

Though few scholars speak it fluently today, Virellan—known in antiquarian circles as “The Rooted Tongue”—once flowed across the tongues of priests, philosophers, and poets in every corner of what is now Nyria. Spoken long before the rise of Alada, Virellan has since faded from common use. Yet its legacy lives on, subtly woven into the idioms, sayings, and metaphors of countless modern languages and dialects.

A Language of Earth and Fire

Virellan was a language built on conceptual roots—short syllabic stems associated with primal elements like fire (sol), breath (aen), stone (gar), and flow (mer). Its grammar was fluid and metaphor-rich, allowing speakers to describe not only what was seen or done, but the feeling behind the action. This emotional resonance made it ideal for oration, religion, and diplomacy.

Linguistic historians believe Virellan was the liturgical language of the Pre-Fall empires. Carvings in its runes—known as vireglyphs—appear on ancient boundary stones, star charts, and crumbling ruins buried beneath cities like Eldenmoor and Haldrith’s Teeth.

Idioms from the Ashes

The enduring charm of Virellan lies in how its phrases survived the centuries, transformed into folk sayings that pepper everyday conversation across Nyria. Consider these examples:

• “To swallow your flame” – to hold back anger; from the Virellan sul amena, literally “hide your fire in your mouth.”
• “The breath left behind” – the feeling of someone recently departed; from aen drasta, once a mourning chant.
• “Bend like the branch, not the bark” – adapt to survive; from vir’lem saren nu’gar, originally used by Virellan generals to teach resilience.
• “Stone remembers” – a warning that secrets may come to light; referencing the myth that all stone records truth, echoing the Virellan belief that nothing is truly forgotten.

Many phrases once tied to ritual have become idioms for love, loss, revenge, and irony in modern speech. In this way, Virellan functions like linguistic bedrock—largely unseen, but shaping the form of everything above it.

Revival Efforts and Mystical Associations

Today, the Virellan Linguistic Society (based in the city of Lilianth ) works to reconstruct the language from fragmented texts, inscriptions, and surviving chants. Some sects of the Solis faith still use Virellan phrases in blessings and funerary rites, believing the tongue carries echoes of divine will.

A few fringe alchemists even claim that Virellan is not a human invention at all—but a language of resonance, whose syllables shape unseen forces. Whether that’s poetic speculation or forbidden truth, no one can say for certain.

In the End, the Roots Remain

Like tree roots buried beneath stone streets, Virellan continues to shape the culture of Nyria quietly, deeply. Its words—worn smooth by time—still live in tavern jokes, courtroom oaths, and lullabies sung in far-flung villages. The tongue may be lost to the lips of most, but it lingers in the breath of the land.

As the old saying goes, still whispered in half-remembered Virellan:

“Aen tira sul: The breath still burns.”