Sunday 24 August 2003

Pic of the day: City picture from Master of Magic, the inspiration for my current fantasy fiction.

MoM2000: The Elmani

First, an apology to the few but worthy people who actually bear the name Elmani. Since my word follows logically from its origin (elf+man) and the rules of its language, there is not a lot to do about it. If it is any consolation, my own surname Itland is sometimes tried used as a company name, and has even been claimed as a domain name!

This entry is harmless fantasy world building. It is the second in a series, continuing from last Wednesday's MoM Fantasies. In today's entry we look at the history of the world and the origin and language of the nation where the main characters live ... at least at the onset of the story!

Without further introduction, onward to imagi-nation building!

***

Something went wrong. The greatest of the wizards, after crushing his enemies in battle, left the world. His opponents died from old age during a mana short, having never recovered from their defeat. The world fell into a dark age again, the armies became bands of armed thugs robbing and raiding to stay alive. The garrisons left the city walls; the summoned monsters flew off on their own.

But seeing that the great wizards never came back, other gifted men and women pored over the tomes in dusty towers, trying to make sense of the arcane scribbles. And when they did figure out a spell, they copied it down. Little by little they started to rebuild the broken cities. Being too weak to rule an empire, or even a city, they would band together in wizard guilds to share their knowledge and work for the common good. From the dim legends of old empires new nations were born. Cities grew and sent settlers to found new outposts. One by one, monster lairs were cleaned out. Roads connected the cities. Magic nodes were tapped to provide mana for everyday spells. Life improved, generation by generation. And then an army of heroes captured an ancient tower and broke through to another world ... the world of Myrror.

Mages claim that the worlds of Arcanus and Myrror are somehow connected, like two sides of a coin. But they do not show the same picture. What is land on one can be sea on the other, or perhaps a mountain. Not even the magic nodes are in the same position. The only thing sure is that if you pass from one world to another at different times, you will always arrive at the same spot if you leave at the same spot. The worlds do not move compared to one another.

But the world of Myrror is different in another way too: The magic there is much stronger. Magic nodes are tremendously powerful, and give refuge to monsters that dwarf any seen on Arcanus. In addition to mithril ore, this world also has adamantium, a magic metal that glows with true magic even stronger than mithril. And in the deserts can be found magic crystals of great power. In this world are other races too: Dwarves, trolls, dark elves, even humanoid drakes that can fly. They too hold some level of civilization. From this and from the ancient ruins and the towers that connect the worlds, mages speculate that there once existed an even older and even greater civilization that spanned both worlds, and left the seeds that became all these smaller civilizations. We have to take their word for it: Nothing is known of this older dominion, nor of its fall.

***

Those who do not learn from the past, are condemned to repeat it. Despite all progress over the last few centuries, men have still not given up the dream of empire and the foolish notion of glory through war. Armies, officially raised to protect the cities against monster invasions, instead threaten their neighbors. Due to shifting alliances and the inherent uncertainty of magic, few wars are actually waged, but the tension is always there. And the nations have to divert resources to the military that could have been used to improve the life quality of everyone. But such is human nature. And elvish nature. And trollish ... klackon ... whatever.

Centuries have passed since the time of the Four Great Wizards. The colonization of Myrror proceeds slowly but surely. Leading the way is one nation known as Elmani, formed through the fusion of High Men and High Elves, and with an element of Nomads. It traces its ancestry back to the empire of the Greater Wizard, who bound these races to his service. Over time the pure elves, breeding only slowly, have become a distinct minority. Through magic it is possible for different intelligent species to have offspring even when they are not naturally interfertile, and modern Elmanians usually are human with a trace of elf. Unable to create magic through their own life force the way true elves do, they still have a knack for spellcasting. Many of them are utility mages, using the abundant magical power in the modern world to do useful work for profit. Elmani is a leading producer of enchanted items and artifacts, although the new, small dwarven kingdoms are catching up very quickly.

The Elmanish language is based on syllables. Each syllable has one vowel, which can be long or short; some long vowels are compounds of two short vowels, also known as diphthongs. A syllable normally has at least one consonant, and often two: One at the beginning and one at the end. Unlike old Elfmannish, modern Elmanish never has two consonants in a row within the same syllable. (Sounds like "sh" or "ch" are one consonant, while "x" is two and does not exist in Elmanish. Incidentally, Elmanish letters are one sign for each syllable, not for the individual sounds within it.) Two consonants can follow one another when syllables are combined in one word, but otherwise not. Many old names of towns can only be pronounced by sages: The old city of Cringshaw is now called Rinshou (or even Rinsu by people from the capital).

In names, yet another convention is applied. Women's names always end in a vowel, while men's names always end in a consonant. How this came to be is lost in history. Elmani was historically a vaguely patriarchal society, and some women's names are made simply by adding a vowel (usually -i) to a man's name: Dani, Nani, Atari. The short forms once popular for men's names are now less common, however. Increasingly names like Dan and Nan are replaced by Danor, Nandar and other more "robust sounding" names. A second generation of feminine names are trendy in the more heavily elfish parts of society, usually ending in -a or -ya (Danora, Nandaya). Some say this is inspired by historical tradition. Most think it is just an affection to sound special, and young half-elf girls often shorten their name in school to fit in. Bet you really did not want to know this much ...

We now join an imaginary world already in progress.