Lore catches: Sylphic language, hunt bill translations, and literacy

[FreelanceWizard]

Fernehalwes, everyone's favorite lore dev, is back with two new lore posts.

 

A description of the Sylphic language, Old High Sylphic

 

A translation of the text on Hunt Bills, and some notes on Eorzean literacy (or the lack thereof)

[allgivenover]

As I (think I may have) mentioned in a past post, literacy rates in Eorzea are quite low. The only people who can read/write are usually the educated writing for the educated.

 

I don't recall him ever flat out stating this, but anyway...

 

 

SWEET VINDICATION AT LAST.

 

Edit: This was a big deal for me as I got into some heated discussions back around launch about how being able to read in Eorzea should be considered a BIG DEAL that was largely ignored or written off. All that time spent with an illiterate character that is in awe of people that can read feels so worth it now, even if it seemed like NO BIG DEAL to most everyone else.

[Val]

As I (think I may have) mentioned in a past post, literacy rates in Eorzea are quite low. The only people who can read/write are usually the educated writing for the educated.

 

I don't recall him ever flat out stating this, but anyway...

 

 

SWEET VINDICATION AT LAST.

 

Edit: This was a big deal for me as I got into some heated discussions back around launch about how being able to read in Eorzea should be considered a BIG DEAL that was largely ignored or written off. All that time spent with an illiterate character that is in awe of people that can read feels so worth it now, even if it seemed like NO BIG DEAL to most everyone else.

 

We should make a club of people that can't read. Val can't do it either and always thinks it's strange or gets pissed off when people laugh at him for it

[DreamedReality]

This will certainly change how I RP literacy now... Good to know.

[Aysun]

I've always treated the fact that Aysun can read and write as a bit of an anomaly IC. She knows it's an abnormal skill to have.

 

..I mostly made her literate because I wanted to journal. 

[FreelanceWizard]

I'd always had in my mind that it was low but not quite as low as Fernehalwes just confirmed. So, I'll need to rejigger some background stuff and have L'yhta be pleasantly surprised when people who aren't spellcasters (her proxy for "learned") can read. She enjoys seeing people exhibit rare expertise she doesn't expect, and now I know to put literacy into that category.

[Stormsrage00]

Is it me, or does that poem resemble the Oath of the Green Lanterns?

[Zyrusticae]

Hmmmmm.

 

Now I need to figure out how to explain why T'rahnu, who came from a sort of backwater hick-like background, learned how to read.

 

This is going to take some thinking.

[Marisa]

Well that's a relief! Ryoko can hardly read anything, but at least I know she's not alone now!

[thesunalsorises]

I always figured T'khai would be illiterate, considering he grew up in an isolated hunter-gatherer village. Ophelie will still be literate, because she's Ishgardian nobility, though most of what she reads is religious in nature.

 

My only qualm with this is, each city-state has it's own newspaper. Which implies the printing press has already been invented, meaning that there is easier access to books which increases the literacy rate. Although maybe the printing press is rather new to Eorzea, so maybe people are only starting to learn to read. But still who's reading those newspapers?

[Verad]

That explains why Verad did so well when it came to selling blank books and illustrated editions.

 

But it also explains why nobody reads his memoirs. :C

[Melkire]

Is it me, or does that poem resemble the Oath of the Green Lanterns?

 

It does, and I'm not surprised. Most folks in game development are, by their nature, One of Us. Many of said folks happen to read comic books. So yeah. Fernehalwes, a Green Lantern fan? Not surprising to me. 

 

That explains why Verad did so well when it came to selling blank books and illustrated editions.

 

But it also explains why nobody reads his memoirs. :C

 

Osric has been trying, damn it, but he never had a proper education. :frustrated:

 

In light of this confirmation of low literacy rates... hmmm. Time to revamp my character's early childhood. Shouldn't take much of a change. I assume the usual tabletop shenanigans: PCs happen to fall into the literate crowd by default, whereas the majority of NPCs fall into the illiterate category. Epsecially given one of Fernehalwe's replies:

 

Huh, didn't know that. So all those "No Entry" signs are pretty useless then.

Those are for adventurers.

[Coatleque]

But it also explains why nobody reads his memoirs. :C

 

Roen and Coatleque did. Granted, there was NOTHING else to do at the time...

[Lillith Cale]

I've always imagined Lillith to have a basic grasp of reading and writing, not a highly educated one, but enough to get by in the military, and know if she's getting screwed over in a mercenary contract. Unless it's a merc contract written using a lot of big words...then she's kinda screwed.

 

Does that make sense?

[Seriphyn]

I'm surprised people think it's surprising literacy rates are low in Eorzea. There is no formal education system like we have today.

[Zac Evans]

As I (think I may have) mentioned in a past post, literacy rates in Eorzea are quite low. The only people who can read/write are usually the educated writing for the educated.

 

I don't recall him ever flat out stating this, but anyway...

 

 

SWEET VINDICATION AT LAST.

 

Edit: This was a big deal for me as I got into some heated discussions back around launch about how being able to read in Eorzea should be considered a BIG DEAL that was largely ignored or written off. All that time spent with an illiterate character that is in awe of people that can read feels so worth it now, even if it seemed like NO BIG DEAL to most everyone else.

 

 

[align=center]I KNOW, BRAH! Argued something in the past about most everyone having the rough equivalent of a high school diploma and that blew up in my face. Granted, I was arguing that Middies were smart compared to most others, but still seems we're dumber than a sack of hammers.[/align]

 

[align=center]But luckily Zac can read and write 'well enough'. Not completely illiterate, but he has to stop every few pages to puzzle out what a word means given its context.[/align]

[Berrod Armstrong]

Hah! As I suspected!

 

I've always roleplayed Berrod as being able to read and write (though his spelling is ATROCIOUS) -- but I've played it off as a mystery as to HOW he can do so.

 

"How in the hells can that meathead read? IT'S WEIRD."

 

Yayyy! Really glad for those lore tidbits!

[Unnamed Mercenary]

The illiteracy does make a lot of sense given the setting. I'd imagine most people don't need to read to survive in Eorzea.

 

 

At the same time, having had a character that had grown up in Ishgard, I'd imagine each city-state's richer families would probably have been educated. I would also have expected Garlemald to have had the class to educate its people, pridefully of their culture, and to add studies of Eorzean culture for the military. 

 

 

As such, Franz would be able to read and write, but it would either come out as flowy, over-garnished Ishgardian script, or the cold, hard and rather obviously Garlean script.

 

Granted, people who play within the scope of the Echo are also gifted with understanding all languages, so I would have to assume that adventurers with the Echo are fully literate in whatever they want to read. (Must be nice, reading all the Old High Allagan instructions on how to destroy the world with darkness)

[FreelanceWizard]

Granted, people who play within the scope of the Echo are also gifted with understanding all languages, so I would have to assume that adventurers with the Echo are fully literate in whatever they want to read.

 

I've always felt the Echo was more akin to an intuitive grasp of linguistic meaning -- it's less like a permanent Comprehend Languages spell and more like an intuitive "knowing" of what someone is trying to say in speech by connecting with their memories. It never struck me that it'd apply to written language; I've always RPed out having to do painstaking translations of texts in ancient tongues.