Talking Knots

In the old forests where the tree-goblins once lived, their voices might be rare today, but they still speak through the Talking Knots.  All the peoples of the North use ropes and cords, but only goblins use them to carry messages.  Strands of cord in different colors are tied into knots, each one with its own meaning.

an Andean quipu, the inspiration for Talking Knots

These days there are few people left who can read the knots, fewer still who can tie them.  It's an ancient art, passed down from elder to apprentice over the generations, but like so many things it was nearly lost during the Starving Time.

Traces of talking-knot culture persist.  It's common for pregnant women to wear a bracelet with the "life" knot repeated around it.  Hunters often wear a necklace with the complex knot for a type of prey, though they usually don't know which knot goes with which animal, or even that they're representative at all.

A few villages still have one of the old bundles of knot-cords, taken out for village ceremonies, even if they have forgotten how to read it.

Talking knots aren't a full writing system, but a partial one.  There are particular knots for clan names, common animals, some things in the natural world.  A few knots show directions or other descriptors, but without grammar to join words together, a strand of knots is more like a list than a sentence.  And because the set of words is limited, sometimes you have to resort to kennings or other wordplay to try to describe something.  There's no sign for "skunk", for example, but if you find the knot for "weasel" tied to several of the knot for "stink", you can guess what it means.

Goblins who know the knots emphasize that these are definitely not that dangerous elven writing in any way.  No, the talking knots are just a wholesome, traditional art for sharing stories among the people.

There are many different technical terms, of course, but the basics are as follows (in the Middlesea language):

• ňúica NOO-ee-kah "knot"
• tàirai TAH-ee-rah-ee "strand of knots on a cord"
• tocó toe-KO "bundle of strands tied together at one end"
• tocotómi toe-ko-TOE-mee "one who can read knots"

(Ok, the ň in ňúica is actually not an /n/ sound, it's a nasalized dental click /ǀ̃/.  The accented vowels are actually pitch accents: á is high stress, à is low stress, so the syllable in a word like ňúica go high-low-low.)

Roll up a random (bundle) to find in your own adventures:

Location (d6)
1	in an abandoned village
2	in trade from a wandering giant
3	private religious items of a village
4	kept by an elven academic society (though they do not understand what it is)
5	carried by a goblin who can read it
6	merely an impression left behind in clay/mud

Purpose (d6)
1	mnemonic for telling an epic tale
2	an accounting of valuable goods
3	warning about dangerous enemies or witchcraft
4	letter to a loved one
5	secret call to arms
6	location of a hidden refuge

Difficult to Read (d10)
1-2	uses a few unusual knots, need to find someone who knows them
3-4	has gotten all tangled together
5-6	part of it is missing
7-8	colors have faded, some ambiguities
9-10	strands from two bundles are joined together

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Click here for random results.
location
purpose
difficulty

Talk like a Human

Traveling across the North you're likely to meet some humans.  Many of those humans speak the language of the Isquentaga, or something closely related to it, so it helps if you know a little of that tongue.  Here's a quick intro.

Letters

When elven memory-transfer technology is used to record human words, here's how they're spelled.  Vowels are sort of like Spanish:

• a [a] as in swat 
• e [e] as in whey 
• i [i] as in ski 
• o [o] as in tone 
• ų [ʌ̃] as in skunk
  

These consonants are just like in English: p, t, k, ch, s, h, m, n, l, w, y.  G is always [g] like in gear or give (not like in gem).  Qu is a [kʷ] sound like in English.  Ts is the same as in English, but note that it can show up at the start of a word, like tsigem "seagull".

Introductions

The most common greeting is simply yeque "health".  If you want to know who you're dealing with:

• Ska naga?  "Who are your (f) people?"
• Ska taga?  "Who are your (m) people?"
  

The way to say "your" changes by the gender of who you're talking to.

• To a man: tachale "your canoe", takata "your mother", taquotsi "your dream".
• To a woman: nachale "your canoe", nakata "your mother", naquotsi "your dream".

Answering the question is easier, since it doesn't change for gender.

• Ogansi iga. "Ogansi is my people."

Asking someone's name works the same way:

• Ska nawana?  "What is your (f) name?"
• Ska tawana?  "What is your (m) name?"
• Ųskalak iwana.  "Ųskalak is my name."
  

There's no word for "is" in the Isquentaga language.  To say "What is your name?" you literally say Ska tawana? "What your-name?".

Any noun can take a possessive prefix.  Wana "name" becomes:

• iwana "my name"
• tawana "your (m) name"
• nawana "your (f) name"
• kewana "his name"
• niwana "her name"
• akana "its name" (ak-wana but the w disappears)

Offering in Trade

If you don't speak the language well, trade will have to be simple and blunt.

• Itsya sehek. "I want an arrow."
• Ketsya olet.  "He wants a jackrabbit."
  

Here we have itsya "I want" (pronounced like "eats ya") and ketsya "he wants".  The root word is tsya "want" plus a prefix to show who's doing the action.  Verbs use the same prefixes as possessive nouns, so the i- in iwana "my name" is the same as the i- in ipo "I hunt".

• Itsya cho chale. "I want this canoe."
• Itsya na chale. "I want one canoe."
• Itsya qua chale. "I want three canoes."
• Itsya pamak chale. "I want all the canoes."

Nouns don't change to become plural, so chale means either "canoe" or "canoes".

• Ikatsya. "I want those."
  
• Ikatsya chale. "I want the canoes."
• Ikitsya. "I want it."
• Ikitsya chale. "I want the canoe."
  

Notice the -ka- in ikatsya?  Verbs can take a prefix for their object as well, the thing being acted upon.  I-ka-tsya is basically "I-them-want". 

• verb structure: subject-(object)-root
  

Sometimes a prefix changes depending on the sounds around it.  The rules are a little complicated, but we can see an example with ikitsya "I-it-want".  The "it" prefix is actually ak- but i-ak-tsya isn't allowed.  The i-ak merges together to ik- and then an -i- is inserted to make the word more pronouncable: ikitsya "I want it."

• Inaman cho squana. "I offer this blanket." 
• Iknaman cho squana. "I offer this blanket."
  
• Iknaman. "I offer it."
  

Here, i-ak-naman "I-it-offer" becomes iknaman as the sounds merge together.  The -ak- "it" prefix is optional if the object is mentioned explicitly, so you can say either "I-offer this blanket" or "I-it-offer this blanket".

Nouns in this language have a gender, so if do you use an object prefix it has to be of the right gender: ak- "it", ke- "he", ni- "she".

• Maknaman chale. "We offer a canoe (it)."
• Makatsya chochag. "We want hominy (it)."
  
• Maketsya aya. "We want clay (him)."
• Makenaman samas. "We offer an antler (him)."
• Manitsya nala. "We want copper (her)."
• Maninaman mak. "We offer a dog (her)."
  

To show the one who benefits from the action, use the helping verb si at the beginning:

• Tasi inaman squana. "I offer you (m) a blanket."
• Isi ninaman chale. "She offers me a canoe."
• Kasi tanaman yama. "You (m) offer them a potato."
  

Tasi "for you" has a prefix to show who this is for: "you-for I-offer this blanket". 

Trade Questions

We've seen how to make statements, now let's try some questions.

Nakatsya.	Nahotsya?	Hokatsya?
na-ka-tsya	na-ho-tsya	ho-ka-tsya
you.f-them-want	you.f-what-want	what-them-want
"You (f) want them."	"What do you (f) want?"	"Who wants them?"

Instead of using a personal prefix (like i- "I" or ke- "he") there's also a question prefix ho- that means "what" or "who".  Ho- can be used as the subject or object of a verb, and it can also be used as the possessor of a noun.

• Hotsya pamak tųk? "Who wants all the rocks?" 
• Hosi taknaman tųk? "Who do you (m) offer the rock to?"
  
• Natsya hotųk? "Whose rock do you (f) want?"

Yes/no questions are a little more complicated.  To make a statement into a yes/no question you add go at the start, then tack the suffix -a onto the last word in the statement.  Both parts are required.

Tatsya mak.	Go tatsya maka?
ta-tsya mak	go ta-tsya mak-a
you.m-want dog	q you.m-want dog-q
"You (m) want the dog."	"Do you want the dog?"

Negatives use a similar structure, adding ha at the beginning and adding -ens to the last word in the part being negated.

Itsya chale.	Ha itsya chalens.
i-tsya chale	ha i-tsya chale-ens
I-want canoe	not I-want canoe-not
"I want the canoe."	"I don't want the canoe."

A Quick Trade

Here's a little dialog to show how trade might work.  The only new vocab word here is ųm "give".

• A: Yeque!  Atalak iwana.  Ska tawana?
  
• Hello!  My name is Atalak.  What is your name?
  

• W: Yeque!  Weyanoto iwana.  Tahonaman?
  
• Hello!  Weyanoto is my name.  What do you offer?
  

• A: Iknaman cho chale.  Go takatsya?
  
• I offer you this canoe.  Do you want it?
  

• W: Ikitsya.  Go tanitsya inala?
  
• I want it.  Do you want my copper ornament?
  

• A: Ho initsyans.  Go takanaman tasquana?
  
• I don't want it.  Do you offer your blankets?
  

• W: Go ikanaman, takųm chale?
  
• I offer them and you give me your canoe?
  

• A: Tasi im chale.
  
• I give you the canoe.
  

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That's all for now.  Let me know if you'd like to see more content like this, either in this language or in one of the other languages.

Languages and roleplaying

Fantasy languages are a strange problem.  It's fun for them to exist, but much less fun to use them at the table.  Somewhere in that pile of languages is an interesting story waiting to emerge: an important trade deal or secret diplomatic message depends on it.

Trade between civilizations.  (by the "artist of the chief mourner" 1769)

So how are you supposed to handle all these languages?  Realistically, every tribe and kingdom is likely to end up with a language or two.  But unless you're playing a game about linguist adventurers (please make that game) there's just no room for all that.

830+ languages on an island the size of Texas + Louisiana.  (Wikipedia user kwami)

Here's the way I handle it:

1. If you don't have a language in common with someone, you can point and gesture but you can't communicate beyond that.
2. Important languages are used widely for trade, so if you speak one of those, you'll probably be fine.
3. Foreign things have made-up language names.  Your people's kind of things have English names.

For the setting of Signs in the Wilderness, there are only two languages you really need to know, the big Common tongues of the world:

• Elven pidgin, simplified from the elves' native speech.  It's the language elves use when speaking to their animals, so they naturally extended it to the "speaking beasts" found in the Northern Lands.
• The language of the Isquentaga, a powerful human confederacy.  Their language is spoken widely for trade and diplomacy from the sea to the high mountains.

Any adventurer should already know one, if not both, of these widely-known languages.  Most people speak a few local languages as well, so if you're from, say, the Black River giants, you speak your native tongue, probably the language of the nearby humans, and likely one or both of the widespread languages above.

Giants have been very receptive to missionary efforts to spread the elven religion, so many of them have learned to speak the language of the elves, at least for liturgical purposes.  Humans often learn the language of nearby giants for trade.

No one speaks any goblin languages, except the goblins themselves.  Goblins are very good at imitating sounds, so it's far easier for them to learn to pronounce your language than for you to learn to pronounce theirs.  At the game table, goblins never have an accent.

Using invented names

If you really want different cultures' names to sound different, you can make up the barest minimum of a fictional language: a set of names that all use the same kinds of sounds.  (If anyone's interested, I could give a tutorial on doing this quickly.)

But be careful how often you use them.

If the players are leaving the town of Borgoch headed for Maldol via the Torbart road so they can get to Gomgul, you might as well not name anything.  The strategy I've ended up with is to use invented names for:

• major foreign places: "A ship from Tara Nun arrived just this morning."
• whole countries: "The king of Cambramor would like to see you."
• personal names: "The fisherman's name is Yanako, and he's delighted to meet you."
• modifiers on wholly invented things: "She carefully mashes the yendelin flower into a paste."

Otherwise, use English names as much as you can (or whatever language you speak at the table):

• "Crossing the White Mountains you find the weather starting to turn stormy."
• "This letter needs to get to a town called High Post, up the valley about three days' walk."
• "The Salty Sturgeon set sail two weeks ago and hasn't been heard from since."

News from home.  (George Baxter)

Invented names feel strange, foreign, impenetrable, but also intriguing and flavorful if used sparingly.  Given enough of them, they all start to sound the same.  English words (or whatever) can be transparent and familiar, but sometimes also dull and ordinary.

This can be used to your advantage.  A place called Quentahog sounds strange, but interesting.  That same place called Council Rock is easier to understand: more meaningful but less flavorful.  If the party is from the local culture, I'll call it Council Rock.  If they're foreigners from another land, I might call it Quentahog (if there aren't too many invented names already).

And don't be surprised when the players make fun of a name you made up.  It's pretty much inevitable, no matter how reasonable-sounding you think your names are.  Don't take it too seriously.  (This is just a game, after all.)

Inventing languages

I've made up some lists of names to give a bit of flavor to cultures.  The players never need to know what these names mean, they're just there to make different kinds of names sound different.

• Elven names tend to have lots of s/t/a/th, sharp names like talassa, karetikes, athala, variki.
• Coastal human names tend to have lots of k/q/w/sk, names like: quowak, misinikeg, waskakowet.
• Local giantish names tend to be rolling and rumbly and use your vocal cords: umburugul, aranda-mago, omorgu.
• Eastern goblin names are nearly unpronounceable to outsiders, so they never come up.

You should stop once you've got a list of names.  Seriously, stop.  Don't invent more language than you have to.  None of the players will care and you won't be able to speak it with anyone.

But...

If you really can't help yourself...

Note that this is chapter five.  Turn back before it's too late.

If you really must make up a whole language, have fun with it!  I think it's loads of fun, playing with different grammatical structures and phonological constraints and sound changes.  And no matter how far you go, you can always go further.  I've worked out how Imperial Elven descends from an earlier Old Elven language, but I haven't gone any further than that.  And just think of all the related elven tongues that might still exist in some far-flung colony of the empire.

Just remember not to foist it all on your poor players.  They have enough to remember as it is, discovering and inventing the story.  Having to pick up a new language on top of it is far too much.  (Unless you get a player who's weird like me...)

As the humans would say:

Ha ye chaskapa agakens.

Do not outdo yourself in speaking.