Video: pri’mn, eija and eijye

The world of Asylum is much like our own, if our own world were littered with supernatural shenanigans. Most of the supernaturals you’ll encounter share a common origin, though they don’t know it (or believe such stories to be little more than myths and legends). One of these commonalities that no one can deny, however, is their shared language. Nearly every supernatural group has some dialect of pri’mn in their history, though few speak it today.

Video:
In pri’mn, suffixes, prefixes and spelling modifications are used to refine the meaning of simpler root words. eija becomes eijye when modified with the diminutive y. Both words come from the root eij, a highly formal mode of address. Other modes include the familiar o, the self-referencing a, and the basically respectful e. eij is typically reserved for masters, royalty, or the divine. In the context of a daners’ nest, the eija and eijye are the leaders of the nest, and masters of their chosen craft, dancing. If they were being addressed outside of their nest, one might add ramn, the word for dance, to their title. eija’ramn Nica, or eijye’ramn Kain, for example.

pri’mn roughly translates to “the first song”. Most of its words are compounds, like ramn or ki’n. Not every compound will be separated out with punctuation, and in fact, many ancient sources are so littered with decoration that it is difficult to discern what is grammar and what is simply pretty. Meanings are largely inferred by context, which makes written pri’mn next to useless anyways. (This makes my job, as a writer, oh so much fun.) The letters and language structure given are approximate, but nearly all pri’mn used within Asylum can be interpreted through context anyways. So mostly, this is just for fun. I hope you’ve enjoyed this video, and those to come. Next up (should be): The Eight Daeos.

Advertisement

• Appendix
• language play
• pri'mn
• video