High Realm

High Realm is the common language of the nobility and the official language of all affairs of government within the Realm. Although it is best known as the language of the Dynasty, High Realm is spoken natively by both Dynasts and patricians. You can find someone who speaks High Realm anywhere that there is an official presence of the government.

Characteristics of High Realm

High Realm is more or less an archetypal Northern Wànzi language, displaying all of the characteristics that make them distinct. All Dynasts and patricians are raised speaking High Realm, sometimes alongside the local languages. High Realm is a beautiful and elegant language with many nuances.

High Realm has four tones and two lengths, long and short. It displays a strong system of what is known as tone sandhi, where the exact tone of a syllable depends not only on its root meaning, but also on the adjacent tones. For example, a peaking tone before another peaking tone becomes a rising tone; kâ plus pâ becomes ká pâ. This can often make one word homophonous to another, even though it is understood correctly by the listener. This ambiguity is the basis for many poetic forms and jokes.

One example of such a joke is,
    Q: What is more valuable than silver?
    A: Pigs.
This joke relies on the fact that sandhi makes the word for "jade" sound
the same as the word for "pig" in the sentence "Jade is more valuable than
silver."

The permitted finals are m, n, r, and l; the final n is pronounced as a velar nasal, ng. Final r is rolled, but intermediary r is a tap. The vowels i and ii are always pronounced in full; they are never reduced, as they would be in some other Northern Wànzi languages.

High Realm uses an SOV word order, which is usually considered archaic in other Northern Wànzi languages. High Realm has a past and a non-past tense, as well as the usual system of moods and aspects. Adjectives are not a distinct category from nouns; a standalone adjective is a noun meaning, “a thing which is X”.

Status of High Realm

High Realm is the premier language of Creation; to be a noble is to speak High Realm. Indeed, the language and the status as noble class are deeply, deeply intertwined with one another. No noble can function who does not speak High Realm; no individual who speaks High Realm can truly be considered common.

High Realm is the language of the Classics, the language of the Empress, and the language of refined and educated society. High Realm is a vocal poem in every utterance; the speaker weaves a tapestry with every word she speaks. The other languages of the Isle are trivial things compared to it.

Accents and Local Languages

Although High Realm is the official language of government, it, like any other language, still has dialects, accents, and regional variation. You can tell where a Dynast comes from by her accent, especially if she’s from a place like Myion or Arjuf which have extremely distinct sounds. In general, a proper Dynast will minimize her known accent traits in court speech; they are somewhat pedestrian.

Many Dynasts go their entire lives without having to learn any language other than High Realm, but many others speak more peasant tongues for practical reasons. Legionnaries, desiring to command their troops directly, often speak the language of their legion. Others simply become weary of having to be translated; still more are wary of household staff that they cannot understand. In general, a Dynast speaking their native language to staff or patricians is not vulgar, but speaking a language other than High Realm to another Dynast is seen as an insult.

Writing High Realm

High Realm is written in a syllabic script, a beautiful calligraphy. Every symbol represents a complete syllable. Final consonants are written as a full syllable, and require the reader to simply know that the vowel is silent.

High Realm is also used to render foreign names, so sometimes the syllabic nature is not as perfect. In these cases, it is customary to represent an unusual cluster by writing two syllables connected together: the offstroke of one syllable mark flows into the next, leaving the first vowel unpronounced.

High Realm is written in columns, from left to right. Joining symbols to make a cluster places two characters horizontally adjacent on a single row.

Making a High Realm Name

High Realm names are expected for the nobility. Many lost eggs adopt a High Realm name as soon as they are brought in to the noble class. Patricians are named in High Realm as well, and satrapial monarchs often adopt both a name in their native language and a name in High Realm. Successful merchants and craftsmen work under a High Realm name.

Poor V’neef. Unfortunately, the original names of the Great Houses and several of the prominent Realm characters were written in 2001 by someone who I don’t think really knew what aesthetic they were going for. High Realm as it is described here – and within the Realm – doesn’t really allow for names like V’neef, Peleps, and Tepet. I just ignore this inconsistency; it’s not worth worrying about for a game. Maybe it’s some kind of weird translation convention 🤔

The Sounds

High Realm makes use of the following sounds. For the purposes of creating a name, you should ignore tones completely. They are a flavorful element, not a restrictive one, when it comes to making names.

High Realm distinguishes aspirated from unaspirated, and does not distinguish voicing. For consonants, you have the following symbols; they are all read more or less like they are in contemporary Mandarin Chinese: b, p, d, t, g, k, z, c, zh, ch, j, q, f, s, sh, x, h, w, l, and y. You also have an r. It is usually rolled but you definitely can just make a regular r sound. It does not sound like a Mandarin r.

For vowels, you have the basic a, e, i, o, and u, as well as their long forms: aa, ee, ii, oo, uu.

The Shape

A name in High Realm is going to be one or a couple syllables. In general, you can pair any starting consonant with any vowel and get a valid syllable. You can also end a syllable with m, ng, r, or l; I wouldn’t recommend doing that if your vowel is long, I think it looks kind of ugly.

Other than those pieces of advice, I’d say just pick a pattern like C-V-C-V or C-V-C-V-C and some sounds that all go nicely together. There you have it, a completely aesthetically-consistent High Realm name.

Some Example Names

Polin, Qifu, Maoye, Hangbu, Xamiing, Kiror, Damaal, Ising, Joya, Zhupeing, Saolal.