Languages

If and when I write up another homebrew setting (or, indeed, if I do that "Ultimates" version of Terafa), I'll be handling the question of language a little differently from previously.

Modern Languages

The 'modern' languages in use will actually be very few. Indeed, assuming the somewhat-standard pseudo-European setting, I'll use three only: Common, Elven, and Orcish.

The reason Elven will remain a distinct language is partly a flavour issue, and partly because I want to retain Old Elven as well, and don't want to give all elven PCs access to that language by default. However, if I didn't have the modern form of the language, that would leave elven PCs not able to speak 'their' language, leading to inevitable arguments. Better just to retain the language!

The reason Orcish remains a distinct language, while things like Giant and Dwarven do not, is due to the role orcs play in the setting, which is that they represent the specific rejection of civilisation. And so, all the 'civilised' races speak a common language; orcs do not as part of that rejection.

The overwhelming majority of NPCs in the setting will speak Common, and indeed will only speak Common. Elves will be an exception, in that most will speak both Common and Elven, while most orcs will speak only Orcish.

However, PCs are exceptional by their very nature. As such, all PCs speak Common, but the player can freely choose whether their character also speaks Elven and/or Orcish. (In theory, players should really only choose additional languages if they make sense for their character, but I'm not going to bother codifying that. If you want your PC to speak all the languages, have at it!)

Magical Languages

However, in addition to the three modern languages, I'm also going to have a number of almost-dead languages used for recording magical spells. Where a character can access a written spell if (and only if) they read the language in question - thus removing any notion of a read magic spell or similar. So, there's no unique magical code, or individual notations, or any such thing, just a set of magical languages.

The languages in question will be Draconic (the most common), Old Elven, Druidic, and Dark Speech. In theory, any spell can be recorded in any of the languages, but in practice some will of course be more common than others.

Those spellcasters who record their spells in a written form will start with access to one of the these languages (usually Draconic for Wizards and Druidic for Druids). They may learn other languages as they progress, either by spending a feat (3e) or training in a proficiency (5e) to do so.

And that's where things stand right now...