Languages of Mythic Europe
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| Ars Magica Primer | |
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| Game Setting | |
| Mythic Europe | |
| The Order of Hermes | |
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The Order of Hermes The Code of Hermes The Peripheral Code Hermetic Book Cycle |
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Introduction
These are the languages and rules defined for Mythic Europe for these Ars Magica games. It is based on Guardians of the Forest and The Lion and the Lily source books.
Language Groups
The main division of languages is into Language Groups. Each language characters take must have a dialect as a specialty; for PCs and other important NPCs, they may take any other specialty.
The following rules are used to determine whether or not languages are mutually intelligible:
- The same dialect, or the same language without dialect: -0 to speaking rolls
- Different dialects of the same language: -1 penalty to both speakers
- Different languages/dialects of the same sub-group: -2 penalty to both speakers
- Different languages/dialects of different sub-groups in the same group: -4 to both speakers
Effectively, there's a -1 penalty for each "step" you have to go up on the chart to reach a common language ancestor, with a -2 if you reach the main language group at the far left.
Language Fluency
Per the Language ability (ArM 5, p. 66) there is no roll. After the penalty is applied, reference the chart to see what level of communication is achieved based on the lowest score of the speakers.
| Score | Fluency |
| 0 | Point and greet. With one or more experience points, you know "please", "thank you" and a few other words. |
| 1 | Basic questions and answers. "Where is the church?", "Do you sell food?" Constant mistakes, and an atrocious accent. People must speak slowly and often repeat themselves, and you cannot string a conversation together. Contrary to popular belief, speaking loudly does not convey a +1 to comprehensibility. |
| 2 | Basic conversation. You can sustain a short conversation on a common topic. You still make many mistakes and often fail to catch what others say. |
| 3 | Haltingly functional. You can hold a conversation on everyday topics, although it takes time, you make many mistakes and your accent is still bad. |
| 4 | Functional. You can hold a conversation on non-technical topics, and make few mistakes. People do not normally need to repeat themselves. This is the minimum level required to study from a book. |
| 5 | Fluent. You still have an accent if this is not your native language, but it is weak. You speak as well as most natives. This is the minimum level to write a book. |
| 6+ | Elegant. You choose your words well, and have no accent if this is not your native language. |
Language Tables
Celtic Languages
| Language Group | Sub-Groups | Languages | Dialects |
| Celtic Languages | Goidelic (Gaelic) | Irish Gaelic | Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Connaught |
| Scots Gaelic | East Highlands, West Highlands and Islands | ||
| Manx Gaelic | Manx | ||
| Brythonic | Breton | East Breton, West Breton | |
| Cornish | Cornish | ||
| Cumbrian | Cumbrian | ||
| Northern Welsh | Northern Welsh | ||
| Southern Welsh | Southern Welsh |
Germanic Languages
| Language Group | Sub-Groups | Languages | Dialects |
| Germanic | Anglo-Frisian Group | Lowland Scots | Lowland Scots |
| Anglo-Saxon (Old English) | Anglo-Saxon (Old English) | ||
| Northern English | Mercian, Northumbrian | ||
| Southern English | Wessex, Sussex, Anglia, Kent | ||
| Frisian | Frisian | ||
| Middle English | Middle English | ||
| German Group | Low German | Flemish, Holland, Brabant , Westphalian, Emsland, Bremenasch, Holstein, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Pommern | |
| Middle German | Thuringian, Mittelfränkisch, Hessian, Upper Saxon, Silesian German, Lusatian German | ||
| High German | Alsatian, Bavarian, Bohemian, Carinthian, Franconian, Luxemburgish, Styrian, Swabian, Swiss German, Tyrolian, Yiddish | ||
| Norse | Icelandic | Icelandic | |
| Norwegian | Southern Norwegian | ||
| Faeroese | Faeroese | ||
| Danish | Danish | ||
| Eastern Norse | Swedish, Scanian, Gotlandish |
Romance (Latinate) Languages
| Language Group | Sub-Groups | Languages | Dialects |
| Romance Languages | French Languages | Northern French (Langues d'oïl) |
Francien (Orléans, Bourbonnais, Champagne, Paris) |
| Picard (Picardy, Lorraine, Franc-Comtois) | |||
| Norman (Normandy, eastern Brittany, Maine) | |||
| Poitevin (Poitou, Saintonge, Anjou) | |||
| Bourguignon (Burgundy) | |||
| Walloon (Flanders, Brabant) | |||
| Langues d’Oc | Languedocien (Toulouse) | ||
| Provençal (Arles, Avignon, Nîmes, Provencal Maritime, Nice) | |||
| Gascon (Guyenne) | |||
| Occitan (Limousin, Auvergnat Provençal Alpine) | |||
| Iberian Languages | Catalan | Catalan (Catalonia) | |
| Portuguese | Portuguese (Portugal) | ||
| Aragonese | Aragonese (Aragon, Navarre) | ||
| Castilian | Castilian (Castile) | ||
| Italian Languages | Gallo-Italian | Piedmontese, Lombard, Emiliano-Romagnolo, Ligurian, Venetian | |
| Italo-Dalmatian | Tuscan, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Corsican | ||
| Sardinian | Northern, Central, Southern | ||
| Eastern Romance | Dalmatian | Dalmatian (Dalmatia) | |
| Romanian | Romanian (Romania) | ||
| Latin | Ecclesiastic Latin, Hermetic Latin, Judeo-Latin | ||
Greco-Armemian
| Language Group | Sub-Groups | Languages | Dialects |
| Greco-Armemian | Greek | "Standard" (Constantinopolitan), Cypriot, Cretan, Cappodocian | |
| Armenian | Armenia, Cicilian | ||
Finno-Ugric Languages
| Language Group | Sub-Groups | Languages | Dialects |
| Finno-Ugric | Ugric | Hungarian | Western, Eastern, Csango |
| Finno-Lappic | Estonian | Estonian | |
| Livonian | Livonian | ||
| Finnish | Finnish, Karelian | ||
| Sammi | Western, Eastern |
Other Languages
Language Isolates
- Albanian: Gheg dialect is spoken in the north; Tosk dialect, the south.
- Basque: spoken in the western Pyrenees.
Semitic Languages
- Arabic: Spoken through most of the Islamic world. Local languages also exist.
- Maltese: spoken on Malta, oddly enough; an Arabic off-shoot
- Medieval Hebrew, flourished in Spain, used among Jews as a common language much like Latin in the Christian world
Other
- Berber: spoken in Moorish Spain and Northern Africa.
- Caucasian languages: A wide variety of languages are spoken in the Caucasian mountains, with only a passing similarity to each other. They are not Indo-European languages.
- Persian (a.k.a. Farsi): One of the more prominent languages of the Islamic world.