D&D (2024) The Elven languages

[Yaarel]

In 5e (5.5, 2024), every setting stands on its own. Even Forgotten Realms is no longer a "default setting", which I feel is healthy, because now FR is free to celebrate its own weirdnesses. The core rules offer broad strokes for setting suggestions, mostly lack details, and strive to be minimalist, flexible, and vanilla when details are functionally necessary. Every gaming table necessarily chooses and evolves its own settings.

Here I am thinking about the languages that Elves speak. Elves are a Humanoid species, thus languages are cultures. An Elf might speak any languages depending on cultural exposures. During the "level 0" background, during character creation, a player chooses three languages. (Typically, one language is Common, one relates somehow to a culture that the species is known for, and one relates to later education including the fightingstyle class. But it can be any three languages and depends on a particular setting.)

Even to decide who, where, and when a language is happening, is already the creation of a distinctive setting. I am enjoying how 5.5 rules are handling settings, and making things delightful for worldbuilder DMs.

The intention is to apply the core rules that relate to language. But like an observer effect, the action of applying them generates distinctive spins. I love Elves and here am beginning them, but the choices relating to the other species in the setting are also important. Every setting does well to start locally and branch out from there, deciding on details as players adventure across them.


Languages that Many Elves Speak

So, the main Elven languages are something like:

High Culture: Elven
Astral Culture: Sylvan (First dialect)
Eladrin: Sylvan (Fey dialect)
Shadar-Kai: Goblin
Drow Lolthsworn Faction: Undercommon
Wood Culture → Druidic


Avariel → Primordial (Air dialect)
Sea → Primordial (Water dialect)

Grugach → Druidic-Orcish
Valley → Gnomish


Comments.

The "Elven" language of the High culture was an exonym that was self-adopted. High Elves are the main Elves that Humans encounter, whence the name of the language. High Elves originally spoke Sylvan, but under the influences of various cultures in the Material Plane evolved into its own language, that lacks mutual intelligibility with Sylvan. Sylvan speakers refer to Elven as "Eldritch" in reference to the peculiar High tradition of the Eldritch Knights, that blends Fey Eladrin wizardry with Material Human martial fighting styles. In the Material Plane, most Elves speak Common, or whatever local language prevails. Only members of High Elf communities speak Elven, such as various treetowns. However certain cosmopolitan cities, such as Neverwinter via various treaties have an enclave neighborhood that preserves High culture. The High cultures exist in locales where there is a Fey crossing between the Fey and Material Planes. These natural "thin" thresholds cause the material body to evaporate into the ether then rematerialize within the alternate reality of Feywild. In a region near a Fey Crossing, the Fey observe the Material Plane clearly, with little or no distortion. High Elf cultures tend to take the phenomenon of crossings for granted, but it involves primordial magic, and why it appears naturally is poorly understood.

Druidic is a language that originated from a Human community, known for its nature-oriented Primal animistic magic. The original Wood Elf communities were historically Fey Elves that formed alliances with certain Druid communities. Eventually some ventured to found Wood Elf communties that embraced the Primal magic of the Material Plane wholeheartedly, spoke only Druidic, and never looked back. Many Elves of the Wood culture dont know Elven.

Sylvan is the aboriginal language of the First Elves before the Corellon-Lolth war, many of these original First Elves are still alive speaking the earliest First dialect of Sylvan. But Sylvan has also come to serve as the "common" language for various Fey species, whence the Fey dialect of Sylvan developing from various cultures. The First and Fey dialects are only partially mutually intelligible, and some sages consider them related but separate languages. The term "sylvan" means woodlander, referring to the Fey forests that First Elves planted.

(In my headcanon, Druidic is analogous to Gaelic of Ireland and Great Britain. The Fey dialect of Sylvan is Scots with Anglo-Saxon and Norse influences.)

Certain Sylvan-speaking Eladrin communities formed Ancients Paladin communities in the Ethereal Plane, where the ethereal Fey Eladrin spirits often visit the Human individuals in the Material Plane during dreams, to teach Paladin oath magic. These Eladrin of the ether are also known as Siths. The respective Eladrin and Human communities are sibling communities, existing simultaneously in both the Material and the Ethereal, but rarely encounter each other directly except via magic. These Humans also speak Sylvan. Of the Paladins, the Ancients are known for their healing techniques, fate speaking, forest magic, the crafting of magic items, such as potions, weapons, and clothing, and are known for being magically strong. Also there are many Warlocks among the Sith.

(The 4e Eladrin were the most like the Alfr of Norse traditions. But 5e Eladrin feel different, more like the flavor of the Scottish "Sith" Elves. Now in 5e, probably the Astral Elf with its skyey themes feels the most like the Norse Elf.)

The Astral Elves inhabit communities that are high in the stratosphere, in the Wildspace, observing the creatures of the Material Plane living their daily life below them. They often visit the Material planet as part of their education traditions, and form friendships there. At the age of a hundred, when becoming an "adult", they immigrate to the Astral Sea where their parents came from. They call the Astral Sea the 'Delusion Sky' (Ginnungahiminn), referring to Psionic mind magic and the mindscapes of the Astral Plane. Psionic magic is most prevalent but every form of magic is known in the Astral culture, a mage culture. Individuals who study Martial traditions from the Material Plane are rare. The Astral culture speaks the First dialect of Sylvan, but typically also know Celestial and Common. The Astral Elf childhood communities exist across many Wildspaces. The most prominent home is a dominion in the Astral Sea that is 'conceptually near' Chaotic Good Arvandor where Corellon the shapeshifting ancestor resides. However, there is also a dominion near Neutral Good Elysium and Celestial communities there. Plus there are various Neutral (Unaligned) dominions elsewhere across the Astral Sea, such as the one that the Spelljammer adventure encounters. Due to an ancient curse, the Elf species is unable to enter the dominion of Avandor, but many maintain sacred relationships to the Celestial Elves there. Corellon can undue the curse, thus transfigure certain individuals to gain the Celestial creature type. These Celestial Elves cast Shapechange innately at-will, including the possibility of becoming inanimate objects that can then animate. Even their appearance as an Elf is a Shapechange choice. Corellon never explains why he wont undue the curse for all of the Elf species, but many speculate that the current Elven diversity is part of some longterm multiversal strategy.

The Goblin language, also known as Goblinish, derives from First Sylvan. It is the language of the Raven Queen in Shadowfell that she speaks with the Shadar-Kai community there. Altho Shadowfell lacks its own language, being whatever languages the dead spoke while alive, the Raven Queen herself was originally an Elf. She still continued to speak Sylvan for her personal affairs and among her Shadar-Kai communities there, as well as with various "unseelie" communities that she maintains contacts with in the Feywild, especially Goblins. Despite its Sylvan origin, the context of the weirdness of time in the Shadowfell and how it interacts with the Feywild and the Goblins there, has evolved Goblinish beyond mutual intelligibility with the Sylvan language. The Raven Queen immerses in these timelines of the past, as part of her vast knowledgeability of the memories of the past for all of the multiverse.

Undercommon originated from the language of Lolth, originally speaking First Sylvan but evolving with Fiend Abyssal influences. Where Undercommon came to serve as the "common" language for various Underdark species, Lolth relishes her influence spreading via her Lolthsworn Drow, and self-identifies with any of its current dialects. Even the Drow communities in the Underdark who have no history with the Lolth faction still tend to speak Undercommon from its function as a multicultural language. Certain Drow communities that were formally Lolthsworn, have officially adopted Elven or Sylvan to symbolically sever ties with Lolth.

The Elf cultures of Avariel and Sea embraced Elemental mages, thus historically shapeshifted their bodies magically, with wings or gills respectively. These communities speak the Primordial language, of the Air or Water dialects. The other languages are known from adventurers, scholars, and exposure to nearby cultures. Primordial isnt a spoken language. It resembles a telepathic language that requires being in tune with the presence of the particular Element, while being in proximity with each other.

Gnomish is a Fey language unrelated to Sylvan. Notably, the original language is mainly preserved among Gnomes that immigrated into the Material Plane and founded remote communities there. The Valley of the Mage on Oerth is a magocracy where Elves, Gnomes, and Humans are prominent species. In earlier history, all of these mages formally adopted Gnomish as their daily language and it serves as the official language for the Valley nation.

The Grugach are a unique nomadic forest culture. They originated in ancient times from an Elf clan and an Orc clan that cooperated with each other to survive an environmentally faminous era. Their Grugach language is a blend of Wood Elf Druidic and Orcish that is mostly unintelligible to either. Some Grugach sages also speak Sylvan or traditional Druidic or Orcish, but Common and Elven are virtually nonexistent. Altho different species cannot give birth to fertile offspring, the Grugach are known for a magic that some couples employ to achieve this. The Elves and Orcs live together, viewing each others differences as normal variations, like eye colors or ear shapes, and Orc-Elf species is part of their ordinary characteristics. The species of the children of an Orc-Elf parent inherits from the other parent. Only an Orc-Elf couple can reproduce an other Orc-Elf.

Members of the Elf species are known for various languages. Sylvan is an indigenous language originating from the First dialect and diverging with the Fey dialect. The Fey speakers perceive the First dialect as semi-comprehensible archaicisms. Elven is the language of the High culture, deriving from a blend of Fey Sylvan and various cultures in the Material Plane. Goblinish develops from the interaction among the Raven Queen in the Shadowfell and the unseelie in the Feywild. Undercommon is mainly a blend of First Sylvan and Fiendish Abyssal, but gains influences from various Underdark cultures. Druidic emerged from a Human culture, and is also the spoken language of the Wood Elf culture. Grugach is a blend of Druidic and the language of a specific Orc clan. Primordial is a magical method of communication, involving elemental attunement, often compared to Telepathy. Prominent Elf cultures speak Sylvan, Elven, Goblin, Undercommon, Druidic, or Primordial. But individual Elves speak whatever languages.

 

[Yaarel]

Above, when I described the Feywild as 'ethereal', I forgot how 5.24 updated the 5.14 descriptions of the 'echo worlds' of Fey and Shadow. The Feywild is fully material, and is no longer a 'spirit world'. Even so, when one looks at the cosmological map, one can see the Feywild and the Material Plane are separated by a zone of raw ether. But now this is more like having the doorway threshold itself be ethereal, but not the destination on the other side of the threshold. The Fey crossings themselves are ethereal during transition, but they are only thresholds. Probably this ethereality is why the mages of the High Elf culture find these thresholds so interesting.

Unlike the other planes of the multiverse, Feywild and Shadowfell are alternate realities − not levels of being. Elsewhere the multiverse is a macrocosm of the Human soul. The Material plane is the aura of the body. The Ethereal Plane is the spirit realm where a spirit of a soul can exert influence. For example, the soul of an artist exerts this kind of spiritual influence. The Astral Plane is a mindscape. By contrast, both Feywild and Shadowfell are actually the Material Plane. Shadowfell is various memories of the past. Feywild is various oracles about possible futures.

It is possible to understand the past, by going back in time, and visiting a 'memory', namely the actual past events. However interacting with the past within the Shadow doesnt affect the current timeline of the Material Plane proper. In this sense, the Shadow offers an 'alternate' past, contained within itself.

Likewise, visits to a possible future are possible in the Feywild. When returning to the Material, awareness of a possible eventuality, can inform a strategy toward success or warn of a possible danger. Hence, the oracles of the Fey 'fates'.

Both Fey and Shadow include a timeline that is current with the present of the Material. These present times are the alternate timelines that are 'nearest' to the Material Plane. Activity in the present is an alternate and doesnt impact the present of the Material.

Because Fey and Shadow are 'elsewhere', they arent 'spirit worlds' per se. Only the Border Ethereal is the spirit world. It overlaps the Material Plane and is part of the Material. The ghostly ethereal spirits of various speicies roam across the world of matter, observe the creatures of the Material Plane going about their daily business. These spirits of ether can exert a subtle influence on matter (and viseversa), but generally any overt interaction requires magic.


In this cosmological context, the ethereal Elves that founded various Ancients Paladin communities are residents of the Ethereal Plane, specifically the Border Ether, and dont reside in the Feywild 'elsewhere'.

(My headcanon perceive these ethereal Elves to be the Scottish 'Sith' Elves.)

The Elven communties in the Ethereal Plane are known as Sith. They speak the Sylvan language of the Fey dialect. A specific possible future motivated this Elf community to immigrate into the Ethereal Plane in order to teach Humans magic from there via dreams, while observing Human activities. While they are known for their Ancients Paladin oath, there are also many Warlocks among the Sith. Generally the Sith are known for healing, oracles, various magical crafts such as potions and clothing, and spells that make their bodies magically strong.

When two ethereal creatures encounter each other within the Ethereal, both of them are subtle forces. They interact with each other as virtual bodies that are as if physically solid.

 

[Yaarel]

My comment in an other thread had me thinking about this thread. The short takeaway is, the 'unseelie' Fey language is Goblin (sometimes called Goblinish). Thus in the Shadowfell, the Shadar-Kai and the Raven Queen are speaking Goblin. I will update the original post accordingly. The long takeaway is, I am still struggling with how to make sense of what the Feywild is, exactly, within the 5.5 cosmology.

_____

To me, the Goblin [species] seems too human to not be Humanoid.


I am still struggling to think of cosmological premise that makes kill-on-sight somehow ethical.

In 5.0, I understood the Fey creatures as manifestations of the influences of nature. But that is no longer true in 5.5.

In 5.5, the Feywild is an alternate reality 'somewhere else', without a meaningful connection to nature.

Or maybe there is a connection, and the Feywild is somehow 'inside nature', sotospeak, as an 'echo' of nature. But I am still struggling to wrap my head around how this works, exactly.

The connection to nature might be useful. Just like one cannot kill a rock, one cannot kill a Fey manifestation from a rock. The Fey reverts back to the rock and might reform later, in a different way. The point is, they arent human − they are mirrors of humans.


In any case, whatever the cosmological structure for Feywild is, something like it is true for Shadowfell.

_____

My current take is: "unseelie Fey" = Shadow.

So Goblins are something like Shadow-touched Fey.

It seems reasonable to expect, some Goblins are in the Shadowfell with connections to the Raven Queen, who is something like an "Archfey of the dead".

_____

 

[Yaarel]

With regard to both the Feywild and the Shadowfell, the timey wimey weirdness sometimes travels fully into other moments in the timelines. The Shadowfell breaks into moments in the past, reliving when the dead were alive, as a kind of cosmic memory. The Feywild breaks into possible futures, as a kind of threads of the weave from possible fates.

That said, it might be that these alternate realities of Feywild are somehow happening inside nature − such as inside a mountain, inside a river. Shadowfell is specifically inside any grave.

 

[Hriston]

I don't play 5.2, but, in my 5.0 games, the Elvish languages have a common root in the language the elves invented for themselves to speak in the home of their origin on the Material Plane as an expression of their intrinsic ability to do so. Over tens of millennia, it has evolved into a number of mutually unintelligible dialects spoken by the various kindreds:

• The language spoken by the Eladrin is closest to the original Elvish, having been brought by them as they migrated, within several thousand years of their origin, into the Feywild where it has since been preserved in an unchanging or slowly changing state, although there may be some influence from the language of the Fey.
• The High Elves speak what is most commonly referred to as Elvish. It originated among the elves of a great forested region which was destroyed in a cataclysmic flood a few thousand years ago and now lies lost beneath the waves. The refugees from that disaster (the High Elves) spread its use over the adjoining areas of the continent as well as taking it with them as they migrated into the Feywild, which they still do as they grow tired of life on the Material Plane. Their language is most closely related to the language of the Sea Elves and, at a somewhat greater distance, that of the Wood Elves.
• The Wood Elves speak a few different languages or dialects depending on region. Elvish proper may be used as a lingua franca between these groups. The languages spoken in some of the darker forests may be influenced by those of the Dark Elves who became assimilated into their cultures.
• The Dark Elves speak several different languages which developed from the common root of the original Elvish as they spread out over the world. These languages may have been influenced by that of the dwarves with whom they have relations, trading or otherwise.

Of course, I'm speaking here in general terms, and each individual is shaped by their own personal history.

Several other possibly related languages were mentioned on which I'd also like to give my personal take:

• Fey speech is one of the languages devised by spirits I call "hallows" for their use within the "created world" which lays between the Positive and Negative Planes. The hallows have their origin in the Positive Plane. Those who came to reside in the Upper Planes are called celestials, of which there are both angelic and genial types. Likewise, those found in the Lower Planes are called fiends, and their types are diabolical and/or demonic. Those who took up residence in the Inner Planes are the Fey. They originally primarily inhabited the Material Plane. Some created material bodies for their inhabitation and devised a form of speech by which they could communicate in their physical forms. They continued to use this language after they retreated into the Feywild.
• Sylvan is the language of the Treants, aka "Sylphs". It's based on a form of Elvish because the treants had no ability to speak on their own, and it had to be taught to them by the elves. Once they had learned how to speak, however, they modified the language to suit their purposes and made it their own.