Editing Midnight - Language Lexicon (section)

==Languages of Eredane==
''Eredane is home to many different cultures, most of which trace their lineages from ancient times before the First Age. They have inherited old tongues that over eons have changed, been combined with other languages, or have simply been lost and then born anew. There are native languages, cultural tongues, tongues of necessity, and trader’s glot, as well as magical cants, enemy tongues, and the lost prayer words of the gods. Across the lands of Eredane, there are many languages and it is always a significant advantage to know more than one’s mother tongue.''

====Restricted Languages==== 
''Some languages, like items, are restricted, meaning that only characters of certain races can begin play with any skill ranks in the language. Other characters can only learn these languages during gameplay, and must of course find teachers to instruct them or live among those who use the language.''

===Alphabets===
Most of the major languages of Eredane, if written at all, use unique, traditional alphabets. 
*  '''''High Elven''' and '''Jungle Mouth''' share an alphabet, and though the spoken tongue of the halflings is significantly different, the written language uses the same 38 letters as High Elven.''
*  '''''Old Dwarven''' does not use an alphabet and is recorded in pictographs instead. There are thousands of these, and learning to read and write Old Dwarven actually requires that a character take four additional ranks in the language, rather than just two. Those clan dialects very similar to Old Dwarven share its library of pictographs, but most clan dialects have no written version.''
*  '''''Trader’s Tongue''' is written primarily in Elven script, but a greatly simplified version that has, over the centuries, incorporated elements from the other alphabets of Eredane.''
*  '''''Norther''' has a simple alphabet of 18 letters, which is the linguistic reason its pronunciation is so vowel heavy.''
*  '''''Colonial''' and '''Courtier''' share the same linguistic roots and use the same 30-letter alphabet. Erenlander, despite or perhaps because of its Norther influences, uses a 23-letter subset of the Sarcosan alphabet.''
*  '''''Orcs''' do not have a written language, and so both Orcish and '''Black Tongue''' lack alphabets entirely. When missives are sent among the elite of the Shadow’s minions, Erenlander is most often used.''