Rifts Atlantis and Languages.

[Slider65]

I just noticed this, and I cannot believe I hadn't before this, but none of the Splugorth's minions, High Lords, Kydians, or Kittani have a native language listed, or even mentioned. They all at least share Dragonese/Elf as a listed language in their skills. A few also add ancient Greek. Interestingly enough, neither the Splugorth Slaver nor the Altaran warriors have any language skills listed in the book.

It seems strange that neither the Kydians or Kittani have a native language, you would think that the ability to speak in their native tongue could be used to, at the very least, talk openly between themselves without anyone understanding them, barring magic or the like.

I know that ol' Slimy Splynn and the other Spluggies have a fondness for dragons, but to adopt that as their own language is just... I dunno, weird?

So what are your thoughts on the matter? Should a native language be added to the Minions, that they all share, plus their native tongue?

[Wise_Owl]

Aren't the Kitanni naturally telepathic?

Draconic is the multi-verses 'natural' trade tongue for a few reasons. One it is magical in some regards, Dragons seem to be born speaking it, meaning unlike other 'natural' languages there is no risk of drift. That hatchling born eight minutes ago speaks the same language as his Grand-Daddy from 10,000 Years ago. Because Dragons are multi-dimensional that means if you are entering a reasonably moderate to high magic universe, there are already going to be people in it speaking Draconic. In a way Draconic is already sort of 'Lingua Franc'. Oh, a huge number of people don't speak it, but in lots of places you can garuntee yourself at least a dozen will.

Given the Splugorth are ancient intelligences with minds beyond the fathoming of mere mortals, the use of Draconic as a trade tongue by them also makes sense. Enslave a population... oh well look at that, their are already a few hundred people within this population of millions that speak Draconic. Sure we've got telepathy and such, as well as magic, but lets just make that language the default and move on.

That being said; your observation is a sound one. There should probably be languages for a few of the Minion types; The Powerlords for sure. Overlords? Maybe. The Slavers? The Warrior Women?

Rifts does tend towards the 'usability, but just enough to be interesting' side of the language question in RPG's, rather than something either strickly realistic(Well the Brand of 'American' spoken by the coalition states is barely inteligable to those living near the Rio Grande), or the Strictly Playable(Everyone Speaks 'common', except those very rare instances of like... ancient magic or something..).

Id toss in a few 'native' langauges for those groups large enough to appear to have retained one and call it a day.

[Grazzik]

WB2 is an older book before some aspects of skill block standardization kicked in, so I've always considered Splynn based chars as coming from a highly diverse lingual soup. Kydian and Kitanni are likely very popular. Dragon/Elf is indeed a lingua franca, but there is another... Demongogian. In fact WB30 pg 17 lists the native language of the Altara as Demongogian. Something to consider.

[ShadowLogan]

NPC Writeups indicate these races have a "native" language that is absent from their initial presentation (these might not be the only examples, just the first one I found, there could be more in other books):
-Altara Language Mercenaries Source Book pg91
-Kittani Language World Book 6 pg77
-Kydian Language World Book 6 pg77

I haven't seen High Lord or Slaver, though it is possible for races to have adopted a new "native" tongue that wouldn't be practiced anymore (several races allude to this in various books).

[(SHIFTY)]

I always thought it was Dragonese/elf?

[Library Ogre]

I'd also note that Kittani and Kydians have been allied with the Splugorth for tens of thousands of years. Even without direct pressure to lose their languages, that's a lot of time for them to be forgotten. Do you speak any languages from when humans reached full behaviorally modernity (which is about 50,000 years ago)? Do you even speak Middle English, which ended about 500 years ago, 1% of that time? Even with a relative continuity of culture, the pressure of a lingua franca (lingua draco?) would erode things.

[Grazzik]

I'd also note that Kittani and Kydians have been allied with the Splugorth for tens of thousands of years. Even without direct pressure to lose their languages, that's a lot of time for them to be forgotten. Do you speak any languages from when humans reached full behaviorally modernity (which is about 50,000 years ago)? Do you even speak Middle English, which ended about 500 years ago, 1% of that time? Even with a relative continuity of culture, the pressure of a lingua franca (lingua draco?) would erode things.

... or the maintenance of original languages might be used to reinforce a rigid hierarchy of Splugorth society. There could be thousands of Kydian variants or a standard version shared across all Kydian communities. And anyway all languages evolve over time, so I don't think anyone expects a Kitanni in Splynn to be able to talk to a Kitanni from when they first fought the Mechanoids. Instead, the question is what languages might be prevalent in Atlantis. It would make sense that in addition to any lingua draco or lingua demonic , a concentration of a people would result in use of a language special to them.

[Nekira Sudacne]

Aren't the Kitanni naturally telepathic?

Nope, They're naturally psychic, but they all have the same six powers and none of them are telepathy,.

[Wise_Owl]

Aren't the Kitanni naturally telepathic?

Nope, They're naturally psychic, but they all have the same six powers and none of them are telepathy,.

Been quite a while since I dived into the old World Book 2. Thanks for the correction

[ShadowLogan]

Aren't the Kitanni naturally telepathic?

Nope, They're naturally psychic, but they all have the same six powers and none of them are telepathy,.

Been quite a while since I dived into the old World Book 2. Thanks for the correction

There's also the possibility that telepathy isn't a "universal" language given a few references to telepathic languages in various Rifts Books (one being Trade2 in PW specifically, though Amorphs, Cactus People, and Slurmphs entries suggest this to as they have a natural telepathic language).

[eliakon]

Aren't the Kitanni naturally telepathic?

Nope, They're naturally psychic, but they all have the same six powers and none of them are telepathy,.

Been quite a while since I dived into the old World Book 2. Thanks for the correction

There's also the possibility that telepathy isn't a "universal" language given a few references to telepathic languages in various Rifts Books (one being Trade2 in PW specifically, though Amorphs, Cactus People, and Slurmphs entries suggest this to as they have a natural telepathic language).

And that the few beings who *do* naturally have the ability to use telepathy as universal language (Gline, Sphinxes, Rutilians, etc) get it called out as a special ability.

[Curbludgeon]

Stuff like the Staphra in Splynn Dimensional Market just speaks Atlantean.