This isn't a language of the gods or celestial beings, it's The First Language, used by those primordial beings before there was sound and light. I mean, technically, anyone can understand it, but not anyone can use it. It bypasses translations and words. Like how some languages are based on intonation or pitch, The First Language is based on conviction and sheer force of will.
Lacunas, or words without translation between languages are all over the place because of a lack of context in different cultures. For The First Language however, there are no questions, no expressions of doubt or fear. It's not a matter of being able to intonate or enunciate. Speaking it is a matter of knowing your truth and projecting that forward onto another. Hearing it, if you can even call it that, is knowing and accepting the Truth laid bare before you. If you know it to be true, you understand it. If not, then you don't.
If a creature hears it, they make a Wisdom saving throw or take 2HD psychic damage (none on save). If you accept it as truth that moment, you have advantage on the saving throw.
In its most basic translation to English or Common or the lingua franca of your game, each statement sounds like haiku. Not by syllable, but by a dominant expression or idea that engages any or all of the senses. It's a statement or revelation in its purest form.
Inspired by this post: The Pickled Tongue
This reminds me of the book Eragon. In the book it has an "Ancient Language" that an old civilization created and attached to the true nature of the world. So, when you speak in the ancient language you are describing the true nature of things and cannot lie. This is actually how the magic in the book works, because you are describing the true nature of things anything you say becomes true and pulls the energy to make it true from the speaker.
ReplyDeleteThey also talk about how elves speak the ancient language for everyday conversation and have discovered the nuace of the definition of "truth" to be able to conceal things.
I've never read Eragon (and tbh, probably don't plan on it), but I've heard that the magic in that setting has to do with "true naming". I think the first instance I saw of magic like that was in real world occult studies, but tabletop RPG wise I think there was a class in Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 that was based off of Truenaming magic.
DeleteI really enjoyed those books, especially when I was in high school. It has a really cool magic system that is more scientific where everything magical requires the exact same amount of energy as doing it without magic. So, it adheres to the "You can neither create nor destroy energy" principles.
DeleteI do remember seeing a homebrew 5E class for a True Naming Wizard that used the spells Identify and Command to gain power over things. It had a feature where you could use higher spell slots to cast Identify faster than the normal cast time of 1 minute. Seemed like a cool idea for a longer campaign, but a bad idea for a one-shot.