Languages

The main language in the Phoviverse is Panlex, which reads similarly to English of the human universe. It is spoken by all beings within the Phoviverse and was created by the Goddess Sini, to allow peaceful communication between races. There are a handful of extinct languages as well, notably Old Vohra. However, some words are still used even today, not just by the Vohra but by all races. Some of these words are as follows:

Vok – Person, Beast, Individual (Old Vohra)

Thre, Threa – Home, Nest (Old Vohra, sometimes used by Skyavok)

Gia – Hello (old Ksithan phrase)

Nara – Hello (Vrekan dialect)

Ser – Mister, Miss (Ksithan dialect)

Kyr, Kyra – Sir, Madam (Rethan dialect)

Outside of Panlex, there are three other languages. The four deities of the Phoviverse speak a language known as Theoglossa, literally translated as “the Tongue of the Gods”, and the language is considered incomprehensible to most mortal beings, even after decades of study. This is because the Whenvern directly influences the acknowledgement of all words spoken in Theoglossa, stretching and altering their meaning so that only beings that can edit or alter the Forward Flow (i.e. the gods) can understand it.

Despite this, two languages have formed, having been redirected from Theoglossa. Both of these languages were created by the Thantophor, and strip away the Forward Flow requirement needed to learn them. Shadowtongue is a language used by Skyavok Phantasma shadow-users and consists of heavily contracted words taken from Theoglossa, to the point that it is no longer recognizable and is now a distinct language. The language was given to the Threavok, the genetic ancestor race of the Skyvaok and the Rethavok, but fell out of use when the Allbirther Sini split the species apart, with only Skyavok, Rethavok and Athrens surviving to the modern day. The Skyavok picked up Shadowtongue again when they were invaded by the Temthans, and it became mainstream in the Skyavok military, but died away again when peace returned to the Phoviverse and the Temthans were driven back.

The Banikan Language is, as the name suggests, a language spoken by Banikans, gifted to them by the Thantophor when they were abandoned by the other deities, deemed too dangerous to be allowed to speak Panlex. Eventually, the Banikans were allowed to learn Panlex, but also kept their own separate language. While short phrases can be learned by other races, it is a notoriously difficult language to learn, as most lack the long tongues needed to pronounce many words. According to legend, the Banikan Language is simply Theoglossa spoken backwards, but due to the Whenvern’s influence, this can’t be proven.