Well, I've been away from this blog for
a while, and while there are many topics I would like to discuss (and
hope that I will, eventually), I thought I would at least use this as
a platform to share the latest news from the Virestian world.
First, I finally completed my
translation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient
Mariner' around mid-January, just before starting back to teaching a
rather busy semester. I'm working on editing this and putting the
first part into Paiodd script, hopefully for publication in an
upcoming edition of Aequinox,
an online publication that features the work of conlangers in their
constructed languages.
I've also translated the entire first chapter of the Gospel of John. Until now, although I am a Christian, I have resisted translating very much of the Bible, since (as you will see below) the Virestians are not Christians, and of course it is a fantasy world where Christianity has never existed at all (in fact, that made for some interesting challenges in Coleridge, as well). However, a fellow conlanger started a group devoted to translating the Bible into conlangs, the idea being that the Bible provides a wealth of material apt for exploring the capabilities of one's conlang - or expanding them.
Meanwhile, particularly this week, I've been thinking about cultural issues in the
former empire. I've devised two different card game systems, one of
which I spent the entire evening Thursday creating a usable deck on
the backs of some old business cards. The games are both based on the
mythology and religion of Virestia, but different aspects of it.
The
first is based on the phases of the moon, which provide the basis for
the four 'suits', since Virestia uses a lunar calendar, and values
the changes of the moon as continual reminders of the story of
Creation, Binding, Mediation, and Scattering, which are the basis of
Virestian mythology. In each suit, there are numerals 1-5, but since
there are multiple ways to form some of the numerals in Paiodd script, there are multiple cards for 1 - 4. Most games played with this
deck involve collecting hands of the same suit or all 5 numerals.
The
second is based on the three principle deities of earth, sky, and
sea, each of which has their own suit in this deck, with five
'actions' dictating how the cards can be used to construct a hand or
played in a common hand, and six 'positions' which represent stages
of life. The goal is usually to construct a hand that forms a
complete cycle of these positions, a complete lifespan, so to speak.
The inspiration for this game actually comes from an old conscript I
developed way back around the same time as I started creating Paiodd.
This script was meant to be a sort of holy language, and as such was
somewhat philosophical, expressing abstract concepts by means of what
are now the three suits, the five actions, and the six positions. I
did attempt to work out some phonology to it, but there was never any
grammar, as it wasn't necessarily meant to truly be a language.
Lastly,
I've begun the process of transferring some of my notes on Paiodd,
Virestia, and related subjects from a spiral notebook to a word
document. Among these are notes about the histories of the various
nations fragmented from the empire's fall, which have led me to
realize that I need more languages! There are four daughter languages
of Paiodd spoken around the empire, and I have at least some ideas of
what those are like - indeed, one entry I would like to write here
would be about the historical development of the High Speech into
these four languages - but because Virestia has quite a large
coastline, it stands to reason that there are traders and others from
lands across the sea that come and go, and these would not speak
Paiodd or any of the common tongues natively. I may not need to
develop these languages as fully as Paiodd, but I should at least
work out some phonology and basic grammar, so as to have some idea of
how the languages would interact. Surely the Coastal-Speech derived
from Paiodd would have strong influence from the languages of the
Southlands!
I will attempt to make a regular habit of updating this blog with at least brief news flashes having to do with my language or languages. I will try once a week, but that may not work out practically.
