New Pelorian

"When a nomad wants to talk of home, when a servant wants to talk of freedom, when a priest wants to talk of the world, or when a merchant wants to talk of gods; they use New Pelorian. It is a language which turns the unknown into the known, turns the strange into the familiar, and the foreign into the intimate. New Pelorian is the greatest gift of the Goddess, for it reveals that We Are All Us." - Poem by anonymous author.

Before the Goddess was reborn, there were three great languages found in Peloria:

• In the centre was the ancient tongue of Dara Happa, inflexible and exacting, they claimed it was the original tongue of all people. To make the unchanging runes, the Buseri scribes used reed pens pressed into soft clay which was then baked; or carved with chisel and hammer into raw stone.
• In the west was the strange sounding language brought by the Carmanians. They claimed it was the original tongue of all people. The glyphs used by the Carmanian wizards were painted on papyrus scrolls, made from the reeds around Lake Oronin.
• In the south came the barbaric Therelmic tongue, which was used in Sylila and the other storm worshipping lands. They claimed it was the original tongue of all people. The ancient symbols were inscribed into wood, and scratched into the hides of animals by the Greybeard sages.

The Goddess saw this, and knew that each language was wrong, but also right. They could not all be the original tongue of all people, but they each contained seed from it. Each had a written form, but they were hidden away by knowledge hoarding cults.

The Goddess sent her daughter, the Great Sister Deneskerva, to find the truth hidden within the languages, so that her message could be spread to one and all, sage and savage. Deneskerva went abroad the fledgling Empire to speak and listen to all those who would talk with her. She heard their words, and found the right ones within them, the words that would be the True Language of the Goddess. When she had them, she went to a scribe to build that tongue. Together, she and the scribe also shaped the Dara Happan runic script into something that could be written on papyrus.

The result, New Pelorian, was a language unlike any other in Glorantha. Its words came from languages all across Peloria, but healed and repaired, so that they were as one. Although one word may come from Carmanian, and another from Dara Happan, through the miracle of the Great Sister, they could be used and understood together, as if they were always meant to be.

The Great Sister spoke to the missionaries of the Red Goddess, instructing them in this new language, which they shared with the people they went to enlighten. Its perfection made it easy to learn, and soon the foreigners could understand the missionaries perfectly. The missionaries were also able to carry sacred texts with them, for papyrus was much lighter than clay tablets.

Within the Empire, the script and words were shared with the scribes of Irippi Ontor, who were not afraid of change like other scribes. They used it to translate the ancient texts into new scrolls that could be read by anyone. They taught it to workers, to priests, and to nobles. Even when their own language was sufficient amongst their own people, New Pelorian was used to speak to foreigners, to record information, and to read the words usually kept hidden by the old priests.


The symbols of New Pelorian
New Pelorian's script was derived from the ancient Dara Happan Sacred Alphabet, but altered to make it easier to learn, read, and write. Allowing literacy to spread like wildfire.

Z        Little changed from the original Dara Happan rune, being only altered to use a pair of strokes.

T        This glyph has not fundamentally changed from the Sacred Alphabet.
U        The bottom part of this glyph has been left off, while the rest has been rounded into a simple loop.

R        This glyph has not fundamentally changed from the Sacred Alphabet.
L/Y        The ancient runes L and Y were simple dots within a square and triangle. New Pelorian has merged the two symbols, if not the sounds themselves (usually), by replacing the containers with the celestial circle.
Th        This glyph has been rounded, and the two sides have been fused at the top for less strokes to be required.
F        Once a diamond with a small line within, the line has been lengthened, and the diamond rounded into a glyph resembling the Moon Rune.
P        The bottom side branches of  this glyph has been left off, while the rest has been rounded into a simple loop.
I        The crossbars have formed a loop to the right of the glyph.
E/V   This glyph still resembles the Dara Happan rune for E, even though it has absorbed the rune for V. This has resulted in a "paddy field" effect for some names, like Everina, the goddess of rice.
M       This glyph has not fundamentally changed from the Sacred Alphabet.
S        The lower half of this glyph has been rounded.
O       The left and right extremes of this glyph have become more flamboyant, but otherwise it has changed little.
A       This glyph combines both the old A rune of the alphabet, with the feminine suffix which made the same sound, while simplifying both.
H       Like many others, this rune has been rounded, especially at the bottom.
G       This glyph has changed little, with only the characteristic rounding having taken place.
N       This glyph has not fundamentally changed from the Sacred Alphabet.
D       Like the glyph for L, the old Dara Happan D rune has been rounded, turning a oblong into a circle.
Sh      This glyph has changed little, with only the characteristic rounding having taken place.
J         The top crossbar has merged with the upper limbs of this glyph, which have themselves been curved, making it resemble a staff with an inverted stasis rune atop it.
Qu      The wings of the ancient rune have become a continuous loop, with the dark core being replaced by light.
W       While the crossbar has remained unchanged, the diagonals have become curves.
B        The lower strokes of the ancient rune have gone, taking it to a simple glyph.
K        The diagonal stroke to the top right has been eliminated from the ancient rune, and its form exaggerated into the modern glyph.