#adventuringastra

Rayne Valley

Studies of Astra

While previously we spoke about the Common language, today we’re going to do a little study on Undercommon, its subterranean cousin. Like Common, the pidgin tongue of the underground is comprised of a multitude of local cultural languages and shared ‘universal’ root words and sentence structures, and like Common, it facilitates shared speech in the modern day...

Unlike Common, it was not made to unite people as equals. Undercommon is largely an invention of the twisted Illithid society - tyrranical, emotionless creatures better known in tales as Mind Flayers. Working alongside Drow and other underdark denizens in positions of power, these tyrants created and enforced Undercommon as a language for “lesser races” and servants.

It is a useful tool for solidarity between those that learned to speak it to communicate with one another, but when spoken by even friendly Drow or Duergar, there is an irony of condescension that can be hard to avoid. The Mind Flayers’ sinister citadels remain, far beneath the bedrock, and the sprawling spidery Drow cities stretch far among the tunnels of Astra. The pain of their rule reaches further still.

Studies of Astra

"Common" is a very human-centric term, and very much on purpose, as Common as a language is a very human concept. As a form of speech it was made to facilitate not cultural identity and history, but humanoid creatures' mostly similar oral anatomy. Many of the words are parsed from whatever's simply easiest to say, as it's a very simple mode of communication; pieces of speech have a very linear structure and literal translation.

Because Common is a pidgin language made from others, speakers that study it in depth will find roots in words tend to derive from cultures more accustomed to their use. Half-elves, for example, may find many elvish words for “elvish things” and so forth - because the cultures that deal with things in day to day life just tend to have simpler words for them. 

While Common is a simple mode of speech, some highly-trafficked locales develop more in-depth dialects through natural proximity to other languages. Travelers, particularly adventurers, are often gleaning new information about an area by the strange twists of their local Common tongue. 

However, most anybody who knows another language prefers to use that for more intimate speech, because common doesn't lend itself well to nuance. Orators, poets, and politicians and bards are often wont to learn a number of languages, or have friends that can translate the same.

Rumors of Astra

The continent of Dravaenn is marked by sparse, diverse communities in small congregations that tend to keep to themselves, living off the land and ensuing their own safety. After all, the wild is dangerous - better to live your life in town.

There are a few places, brought together by a more forgiving landscape, a secluded glade that allows a community to grow, or a shared need for safety. The Citadel of the eastern fen grew and fortified for another reason: A great resource.

Located in the eastern wetlands, now under the Citadel, lies a point where a multitude of supernatural leylines cross, forming a massive confluence of easy-to-tap magic power. The latent planar energies cause a constant influx of elemental water and earth, enriching the heart of the wetlands into a place of powerful nature energy.

Thousands of years ago, a group of nine allied magi tapped this power in unison, creating the foundation for what was then their shared workspace. Over the course of a century or so, their work attracted a multitude of apprentices, and eventually a cabal of united mages that orchestrated the transformation of the mages’ tower into a fortress, and a faction unto itself.

Their political reach meant little in the face of the cataclysm that shook the wetlands, a decade after its founding.

Over the course of the following millennia, the hollow shell of their fortress was discovered and again occupied by mages. A witches’ coven in service to a local group of villages organized the reconstruction and expansion of the invincible Citadel to become the heart of a grand city, and the home of an academy of magic for all to learn freely.

Rumors of Astra

Nestled between the eastern White Fang mountains and the impassible Fae-forests of central Dravaenn lie the Eastern Wetlands, a place known in Sylvan as Alul’siluel. These wetlands are home to a vast variety of flora, fauna, and fungi, and house a great deal of sunken secrets from eras past, preserved beneath the swampy land by the latent magic of the area.

Atop the relics and reservoirs live a sparse band of villages and tribes in the dark of the swamp: a Druidic village called Knotswaddle guards the safe passage from the wetlands to the Fae-forests to the west, a small string of townships populate the southwestern river-border, hunting and foraging within the swamp as they till the fields to their south.

Words of warning spread fast to travelers to mind the nomadic bands or secluded hermits deeper in the swamp, on their way to the city of Eastmarsh - Many a traveler can fall easy prey to the silent tribe of lizardfolk that make their home in the swampiest regions. While the popular assumption paints them as tribal, primitive, and evil, they are in reality a species older and likely more socially advanced than most other humanoids. Their insular nature and staunch protection of their hidden homes have kept outsiders at bay for centuries.

Those who brave the untamed wild may make their way to the great Citadel in the centre of the wetlands, or find themselves among more sinister ruins, lost in the trees. The only landmark one can see above the vast treeline, save the mountains in the distance, is the horned skull of a massive beast hundreds of feet in height, half-sunken into the muck.

Noelle Roxanne Valrayne

“I would prefer not to comment. I would prefer not to be interviewed, actually; What are you doing this far from town? Get off my farm.”

The youngest daughter to a powerful noble family, this lone farmer took up a life of combat to avenge herself of a betrayal she suffered at a young age. Despite her rage and training, she failed to get her revenge, and instead took up a therapeutic life of agriculture.