Talarian (The World)

Talarian Tenxwwar Haryuça
Spoken in:	Telera
Timeline/Universe:	The World
Total speakers:	c. 400000
Genealogical classification:	East Aryan, Puntic
Basic word order:	VSO
Morphological type:	agglutinating
Created by:
Padraic Brown	1990s

Talarian (native name Tenxwwar Haryuça) is an Aryan language of the East Asian branch of that great language family. It is spoken in the kingdom called Teleran, north of Westmarche and a way to the northwest of Auntimoany. Its sister language, Yllurian, is spoken in the neighbouring country of Yllera. Some thousands of years ago, according to ancient histories, the sea around which the proto Aryans, the Punt, lived experienced some devastating cataclysm, generally accepted to be an earthquake and subsequent flood. The destruction of this land precipitated a mass exodus in all directions and gave rise to several great language families in both East and West: the Aryan and the Semitic. The ancestors of the Talarians wandered for a time in the east amongst the ancestors of the Persians and Indians. They were much influenced by these peoples and acquired not a few cultural, religious and linguistic borrowings. The ancestral Talarians continued into the East, at last arriving in the vicinity of several moribund Archaic Empires. They settled in the lands of the old Yllemese kingdom, and in later years moved across the Severn River into Teleran proper.

Texts in Talarian.

Some examples of religious / spiritual mantras:

çreyfti-he teywas-cos aretel; Talomatan-tây fféwencati, coç-he tây camaporos.
On high rides God; to Earth he bends, her lover. (a mantra)

coç-he hâstan-sa-han yesam punerrohati-na; coç-pe hâstan-sa-ut-te yesam punerrohti.
What enters your mouth doesn't defile you; rather what leaves your mouth defiles you.

wárkaççweti saç-he wiros-tos:
pâtâto pataxartassan-ca;
pâtâto xowan-can;
ffrencato pûrahamtar-ta pûray-cây sactuça.

These things a man should do:
feed the hungry;
feed the cattle;
bring firewood to the holy fire.

A translation of an ancient tale, owis ekwoskwe:

Wellan-cohes, weweyssi walmanuça-ne xowios-ca hahâms, içatla maxuça waconar-can rómati, iriloç-he wiram çerewana ffárati. Xowios-coç hahames feffâti: Cartay-ca-he mamaç haxanatar, wirahaharomomtoç. Hahas-toy xowiay-ca feffâti: Harcato! Xowie, cartay-ca-he wosaç haxanatar, wirawalmanffartaromtos, xowiay-he walnar-ça-ne! Tlewehetasa, xowios-cas sexoman-sa-han xaxâtenti.

Upon the hill, a sheep with no wool saw some horses, one of which drew a large waggon, the other of which swiftly bore a man. The sheep said to the horses: "It pains my heart, to see the man leading horses." The horses replied: "It pains our heart, to see the man wearing wool; and the sheep has no wool!" Hearing this, the sheep fled into the plain.

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There are several writing forms used in the modern language. Most prominent is the simple alphabet, which is a series of letters derived from the ancient cuneiform syllabary. In the modern period, the alphabet is used for almost every purpose. Second is the modern syllabary, which is a scheme of simplified cuneiform signs. Last to be treated here is the religious alphabet, which is a flowing script derived from the ancient cuneiform. Beyond the scope of this treatise are the various ideogrammes and particle signs which dot some Talarian texts. Only in sacred and official state documents are all three of these systems used in conjunction. Such modern books as are made tend to be written solely in the simple letters.

Alphabetic Writing == Derived from the Iranian cuneiform syllabary, a flowing script syllabary and then alphabet developped. In rececnt history, the Roman alphabet was borrowed, due to its currency as a common alphabet of the Eastlands. The flowing script syllabary is used when writing the names of saints. The flowing script alphabet was until very recently commonly used in religious writings; though the Anian syllabary and Roman alphabet are now much more common. The names of the Roman and flowing script letters are idedntical to the names of the Roman letters. Anciently, the script letters had bird names, which were not native, possibly of Oritanian origin.

Syllabaries == There are two syllabaries in Talarian. The first is derived from ancient Iranian cuneiform, the latter from the ancient Anian syllabary. The Anian syllabary, which itself was borrowed from the Daine in ancient times, was historically the most common writing form in use in Talarian writing. The old Iranian syllabary (slightly modified for use on parchment or paper) is used to write the names of common people and places. The names of the Iranian letters are simply the syllable corresponding to the sign. The names of the Anian letters came with the original Anian names, i.e., the name of a particular syllable associated with each sign.

Ideogrammes == Sumerian/Akkadian and Persian graphemes have been borrowed into Talarian and form a portion of the Classic of One Hundred Signs, the official dictionary of graphemes. The remainder of the graphemes found in the Classic are borrowed from Shana characters via the intermediary of ancient Hoopelle writing. The Shana ideogrammes are accompanied by a set of “modifiers” which altered the meaning or grammatical function of Hoopelleish word signs. They are generally frozen in Talarian, though some have been added to the cuneiform ideogrammes. Most of the signs are from the realm of officialdom. Each sign, apart from its meanings in the Talarian language, has a name which is supposed by the Learned to be a, most likely mangled, form of the word in the original languages from which they were borrowed.

Below are two samples of typical Talarian writing, the first being an image of a banknote of one gold rinar, which is equivalent to twelve silver tarxam. Next is a Christmas card, though in reality, the message would be as appropriate for those who celebrate the birth of Lord Metras as those who commemorate the birth of Lord Krist.

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The wording of the banknote is fairly standard and familiar to the collectors of paper money equivalents in any universe. Across the top it reads "GREAT TALARIAN GOVERNMENT TREE-CLOTH TREASURE"; down the left side: "TAKE & PAY OUT EQUALLY (.i. "at par") IN STANDARD RING-MONEY (.i. "coin") OF ALL WORLD-REALMS UNDER STARRY HEAVEN"; on the right: "CITY OF ILLENERE" (which is the capital). Across the middle it reads: "PROPER DECREE OF LAW". The central picture is of the World Tree, a mythological symbol whose seven fruits of Midworld, as well as the seven stars of Overheaven and the seven gems of Underworld form a symbolic retelling of some of the World's most ancient sawyery -- the myths surrounding the Seven Powers and the Creation of the World itself. And probably some other things more eschatological in nature. The Seven Squirrels of Regenreck, you know.

Talarian paper money always depicts the exact value of the note in, not only writing -- way over on the left margin is the word RINAR -- but also in pictures. In this case, the rinar is worth four gold tarxam (< dirhams < drachma) each worth three silver tarxam, making their dollar worth twelve silver dirhams. Lower value notes depict their value with images of stacks of copper falar (< falus < follis); but note that the coins are always tied together, a sign of complete value. Dollar notes are very large indeed, this rinar note being about nine inches wide by 12 inches tall. At the very top and bottom are the serial numbers: 1-3-11-1, which in base-10 is 2304.

An ancient symbol that appears on many Talarian currency notes, and indeed on many objects, temples, churches, books, houseware articles, clothing, etc, is the sewwastilar (compare with Sanskrit swastika). It is a generalised symbol of good luck and well being. In Telerani culture, it is particularly associated with all things auspicious and wonderful. It is also a Sun sign and has been seen as a variation of the various Sun wheel symbols common to all ancient Aryan mythologies in the Eastlands. Anciently the Telerani were Sun and fire worshippers, and the Sewwastilar was a common symbol even then. Fire is still central to the modern religion, but is not actually worshipped. Their cousins, the Yllurians, are still Sun worshippers and the sewwastilar figures prominantly in their culture. There are various beliefs concerning the different meanings of the symbol's orientation. Meanings vary considerably for sunwise v. whiddershins orientation and there are also differences between the "resting" (symbol sits on its flat sides) versus the "leaping" or "dancing" (symbol stands upon its corners). The notes show all dancing sewwastilar, and some ascribe a more Active and Auspicious character to the symbol in this aspect.

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This is an image of a greeting card such as might be found in the bazaars of the Eastlands of the World. This card comes from the land of Telera and depicts a scene common to both of the major religions of the land: the Nativity. If you are a Kristian, then the image of the gospel of the infancy of the Lord Krist is well known, how the seven angels led Maryam to a hospitable cave outside of town where certain shepherds kept their flocks on a chilly night. It is here that Ye Shue the Lightbringer comes into the World and meets the various astrologers and wise men who come to pay their veneration to him, the lord of the New Kingdom. If you are a devotee of the Way, or even one of the minor native religions, then you will be familiar with the festival of the Twelve Nights. Feasting, lighting of candles or lanterns at the twelve points of the Ring of the Invincible Sun all herald the nativity of the Lord Metras, when seven angels appeared to bring news of the Lightbringer’s arrival from the stone of a cave.

The text is a rather generic seasonal greeting, appropriate for anyone regardless of their particular religious persuasion: petanarshafflatanhe takahan pancata pelewarkatasihan teyo sactâlemtilelhan. This means “inner-peace & blessing to your family fulfilled on this sacred night.” Across the top, the big glyphs are inimit, inner peace and shwe, blessing; along the sides are the glyphs imiras, family or clan, cuculear, sacred and elemtilas, the night sky. Grammatical apparatus and all the other words appear in a rather formal cuneiform syllabary. At the bottom of the image is the title of the icon, Haraxar, the sacred cave of the Nativity.

The card is produced by the Ymperiall Scrivners, a publishing firm located at Wharf 31, in the City, should anyone be interested in obtaining a catalog of their products. A card such as this would most likely be block-printed from a woodcut, though stone or bronze lithography would not be out of the question.

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The World