COMMON TONGUE Also known as Trade-Speech, this is an artificial language originally created by merchants, and later adopted by mercenaries. It is now the tongue most often heard among groups of adventurers. Most merchants (85%) have at least a grasp of the fundamentals of the Common Tongue. Rich in business jargon and profanity. DWARVEN There are two related tongues spoken by dwarves, MOUNTAIN DWARFISH and LOWLAND DWARVEN. As they are not quite the same, a roll of 4 Dice (vs. the IQ of the character with the higher IQ) must be made if a speaker of one Dwarven language is trying to communicate with a speaker of the other. This roll may only be made once, and if it fails, their accents and/or dialects make it impossible for them to understand each other verbally. ELVEN All three of the Elvish races. Grey, Wood, and Sea Elves, speak dialects of the same language, collectively called Elven. FAERIE The Little Folk have a language all their own, but it is rarely heard by any save those who have done a great service to them. They will usually communicate with other races using the Common Tongue or the local dialect. GOBLIN Goblins have no language of their own, speaking Low Orcish instead. HUMAN There are many human languages. They, mOrc than any other race, are extremely diverse in both language and custom. Broken down by racial type, the human languages are as follows. The Caucasian subset of the Human race has four languages: PARSIAN Spoken in the areas around the Sea of Villar. NORLANDIC Spoken by the northern Barbarians and for that reason sometimes called the BARBARIC TONGUE. HALLAN Spoken by the inhabitants of the southern shOrc of the Sea of Villar. WESSIN Spoken by the inhabitants of the Westlands. The Vendhics, those inhabitants of the southern shOrc, have over a hundred different minor languages, but the two major ones are: HIND Spoken by the vast majority of Vendhics. SEM Spoken by the members of the Semmish religion. The Plainsmen have one universal language known simply as: PLAINS SPEECH This is a very simple language, at first hearing, but to one who knows the language, it is full of subtle nuances. The Easterners have two distinct cultures each with its own language. Both are 6-toned languages. CH'HIN Spoken by the culture on the eastern coast. NIHON Spoken by the inhabitants of the Golden Isles. Southerners, dark-skinned inhabitants of the Southlands (the southern continent have three languages. KUS Spoken along the eastern coast of the Southlands. KARUBA Spoken in the central jungles and the southern coast. FHARRA Spoken on the western and northern coasts. ORCISH The Orcish language group has three distinct and, for the most part, mutually unintelligible languages, as detailed below. HIGH ORCISH This tongue is spoken only by the priviledged noble class, who rarely (05%) speak Low Orcish, but have specially trained servants who translate for them, known as servitors. LOW ORCISH The language of the common "Orc-in-the-street" and is the language most commonly known to adventurers as Orcish. About the only persons who speak both High and Low Orcish are the servitors. ORC BATTLE-SPEECH All Orcs who have had any military training will speak Battle-Speech, a gutteral tongue punctuated with hisses and glottal stops. OVERMAN Spoken by the reclusive race called Overmen, who live in the depths of the central jungle of the Southlands. SAURID Language of the now-extinct Saurid race, considered a dead tongue. TAAL-NAHR Language of the Dragons. TROLL Trolls do have a speech all their own, but it is rarely heard and all but impossible to speak or understand without magical aid. Trolls use Low Orcish to communicate with other races. CHAOS TONGUE Known also as the TONGUE OF ULTIMATE EVIL, and FALLOPIAN, this was the language spoken by the evil god who came to prominence during the Troubles. It was adopted by the leaders of the various factions which backed him. SIGNING Originally a method of silent communication pioneered by the Thieves Guild, Signing is now used extensively by the deaf and many mercenary units. THIEVES ARGOT A secret tongue used only by the Thieves Guild (or, as it calles itself. The Ancient and Honourable Brotherhood of Thieves). A non-member found to know the Argot will have his tongue removed and his ears put out with a hot iron. WIZARD'S TONGUE The Wizard's Tongue, properly known as the TONGUE OF THE MAGI, is only learnable by magical means and is never taught to non-Wizards. This is not an exhaustive list of all languages on Glory Road, but a sampling of some of the mOrc common ones.