Failed Step One

Afen Kisantami has a bunch of grandchildren by several children (lucky bastard). However! Two of said grandchildren are by his oldest child, Aitim Neli. Who is

a) blue! (grandchildren are also blue = preferred red target!)

b) a member of the Council of Anitam! (Seriously!)

Furthermore, one of their other parents is Kan Neli, who turns out to be brother of Isel Alamet, Anitam’s biggest red lover! Who is currently, furthermore attached to one of Anitam’s ‘ex red’ ‘blues’. Granting them the perfect access!

I know this is a joke, but I was just researching the error and it’s actually really cool. According to @serpentoftherose, the post was originally written in Svarico, which has barely any literature written on it, but I did manage to find something in an ancient issue of the proceedings of the Oahkar lexicographic society (say what you will about the empire, they were thorough). 

Here’s what happened: Svarico initially had two words for intelligent: ahfve, which referred to abstract reasoning (stereotypically “green” intelligence), and kotume, which meant some combination of practical knowledge, situational awareness, and competence. This is relatively common; many languages make a similar distinction. 

The thing is, Svarico has a highly developed system of linguistic registers. Most words have at least three forms which correspond to various levels of formality and difference, and some have as many as eight. Traditionally, these registers were related to castes - greens and blues are expected to speak a register or two “above” everyone else. Not all words have forms in all registers. Kotume in particular is a low-register word. While it initially had more polite forms, they fell out of common use about a hundred years ago, When literacy became widespread among the general population, formal speech became more widely understood, and low-register words acquired additional social stigma. As a result, ahfve, the polite term, took on a lot of the old connotations of kotume. 

My Dear Dentist, I have a problem. Please inspect me, I need your help!

My Client, please open your mouth. Oh, I see, there’s a chip in your tooth.

My Dear Dentist, I have a chip in my tooth! What shall I do?