Editing Caverns Without Number (section)

==Languages==
The PCs start out knowing Common & Trade Cant, with additional languages per their Connect & Know skills. See pg. 28 of WWN.

*Common is a modern form of Thracian, and is the most wide-spread human language. Insular or remote human civilizations might have divergent or distinct languages. 
*Trade Cant is a limited pidgin tongue commonly used in highly cosmopolitan areas or by far-traveling merchants. It's not good for higher pursuits, but has special vocabulary for economic concerns, commodities, travel & accommodations, et cetera. 
*Old Thracian has about as much in common with Common as classical Latin does with modern Italian. It was the language of the last powerful and widespread human civilization.
*Amaranthan, also known as Sorcerer's Speech, is even older than Old Thracian. It was the tongue of a powerful sorcerous empire that collapsed in blood and fire. 
*Lizard, or in derogatory terms "Hiss," is the language of the common lizardfolk and other reptilian intelligences. It's hard for humans to pronounce, and even harder for them to think in. The brains of the reptilian people are formed very differently to human ones. Something has gone very wrong with the lizardfolk, and 90% of them have cognitive limitations not present in their ancestors. The result is that only about 10% of them are literate in their own tongue. Note that in Lizard, humans are referred to as "Monkey Men," and their terms for our language are even more derogatory than "Hiss."
*Pelagic, or in derogatory terms "Glub," is the common language of undersea peoples. It's impossible to pronounce in atmosphere, so it can mostly only be learned underwater. Water-Adapted PCs (see pg. 27, under xeno-blooded) can learn to speak and understand this. 
*Fae is the language of the various half-worlder beings. It has Seelie and Unseelie dialects, and while most people will be more familiar with one or the other, they are comprehensible to each other.
*Sign Language exists for the use of the deaf, and is also commonly used by beings for whom normal conversation is difficult. For example, a non-water-adapted human and a greater octopus might both be intelligent, but the octopus can only speak underwater, and the human can only speak in the air. If they met at the shore, they could communicate via sign, with each staying in its own preferred medium. The gestures are abstract enough for beings with significantly different anatomy, so long as they have limbs. Dolphins don't have sufficient limbs to Sign, although they can learn to understand it, but they're telepathic anyway. 
*Various other species have their own languages.
*The Precursor civilization of humans presumably had their own language, but they don't seem to have written much down, or if they did, it was lost long ago.