#Sitri might have tried to sew herself bibs for Billy with nabatean alphabet
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randomnameless · 1 year ago
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Thinking about different languages in the Fodlan verse -
(Duscurian, Srengese, Almyran and Brigidan are mentionned/refered to in supports, so I wouldn't be surprise if Dagda, Morfis and Albinea have their own language)
What if Sothis and the Nabatean had their own language?
Let's say Sothis lands in modern Fodlan, and the humans around speak a weird language she doesn't understand, but thanks to "god magic" she manages to learn it in 1 day.
And yet, when she creates her kids, she gives them her own language (from the blue sea star?) which de facto becomes, on this planet at least, Nabatean language.
Of course her kids have to learn the "human language", and in turn, for the humans who want it, they could learn the Nabatean one.
(Cichol had a cringe phase where he tried to use agarthan slang, but no one is alive to tease him about his younger days)
Zanado 1 (the place where Sothis lived) became some sort of university-giant library-thing where humans could come and study languages of other places, like people from Thinis could learn Agarhtan, Nabatean or proto-Morfisan, etc etc.
Nabatean language was used as liturgy language (since some people considered them gods?) in early Sothisism practices.
Thales was kind of pissed, because there's no need to learn anything about Thinis and those other trash states since they're going to be destroyed, then he started to war against Sothis herself, and we know how that ended.
Fast forward to Zanado 2 (built on the ruins of Zanado 1) - Nabatean is exclusively used as liturgy language, even if it falls more and more because there's no official Church or cult, and after the war, there are less and less Nabateans roaming around to talk to or to share their culture (but the few who travel bring back the "modern and updated" versions of the human language they learnt back then, like, idk, Archaic Palmyran became Early Almyran, or something like that).
Nemesis parties in Zanado, and Rhea is persuaded Nabatean is, bar her, an extinct language (since some humans who worship the Goddess completely forgot the earlier Sothisism rites (tfw 1500 years happen) and sort of do it in their own way).
Getting a new language update (tfw Rhea still think humans in the south speak "Old Enbarrian" when they now use "Classical Enbarrian" and "Vulgar Enbarrian"), Seiros feels conflicted about the new hymnals and preachs of the newly founded "Church of Seiros" being in "Classical Enbarrian" ; it should be in Nabatean, but why teaching those humans a language only spoken and understood by the dead?
Besides, as long as Nemesis exists, Nabatea and everything related to Nabateans should be hidden, else she might be turned in a golden weapon.
Of course, for "Willy reasons", she ended up trying to teach him some words, and Willy was very surprised to learn that in the Nabatean language, there are no swear words so he decided to translate swear words, a roundabout way of telling her Nabatean language isn't extinct yet, it survives and can even evolve by having new uses!
(Now, did Rhea overthink too much about this and thought Willy was really a genius, or was he completely stupid just wanted to insult people in a different language, we will never know)
Thus, Seiros the Warrior believes she can teach, after the War, when all Relics will be found and Nemesis dead, Nabatean language to her followers, so they could share the language and sing hymnals in Nabatean language.
(This idea is fairly popular in the Northern provinces, because it'll another language and not "Enbarrian", so in a way, this church business isn't another way to "Enbarrianise" them (or so they think?).).
But after the WoH and Lycaon's death - Rhea loses faith in humanity, and, in turn, reconsiders her idea of teaching Nabatean language to humans through the Church, after all humans are humans, and Nabateans cannot coexist with them even through language, only Sothis can help them and save Fodlan.
So the CoS will use Classical Enbarrian (lingua franca in Southern Adrestia), but she'll allow people to preach in their vernacular languages, because the most important thing is for the CoS's message to be spread (and not to pretend a dead language of dead people, or people near extinction can survive, because Nabateans need the Goddess).
Fast forward to centuries of years later...
Yuri finds an old bottle of hair dye in the Abyss that was definitely hand written by the Archbishop - when he confronts her about storing her personal belongings (she tried to bullshit him about "Saint Seiros' old belongings" but he has none of her nonsense, why would Saint Seiros use hair dye??) in the Abyss - Rhea's very surprised because Yuri was able to read Nabatean alphabet, and knows the language.
The hair dye incident makes her reconsider, is Nabatean language really dead? Why Aubin taught Yuri the language? Can she have faith in humanity, again? And hope that maybe, one day, Nabatean culture can be revived?
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