#domutranu

[esneirra973]

Gwat Níir - Warriors of Old

The Gwat Níir were an alien race known for their brute strength and intellectual prowess. At their height, they ruled over a decent portion of the Milky Way Galaxy (Gwat Myuun: Gwatmankarpgées), which included the Orion–Cygnus Arm, the Perseus Arm, and the Carina–Sagittarius Arm. They were always a prideful people, which is hinted by the name of their home planet (Gwat Trún), their race (Gwat Níir), and the name of their language (Gwat Myuun), which mean “superior planet”, “superior people”, and “superior language” respectfully. Thus, it is no wonder that they always held their original home planet as an interstellar capital and cultural center. In their eyes, no planet could ever surpass their own, and the main motive behind the expansion of their empire was acquiring slaves for hard labor while also demonstrating their might.

History

The predecessors of the Gwat Níir, retroactively deemed the Cert Níir “ancestor people”, were a primitive warrior race on Gwat Trún. They were first set on the path to civilization by an ancient alien empire called the Ramaitokrutto, now lost to time. Known for their extensive genetic engineering experiments throughout the galaxy, they spliced their divine DNA with the Cert Níir to create the Gwat Níir. Although still prideful of their warrior traditions, they were now blessed with the gift of sentience, giving them an advantage in both brains and brawns. With the average Gwat Níir having stood at 8 feet with a weight of nearly 300 pounds, they were undoubtedly formidable opponents in battle. Much like the Earth in our time, their planet was once divided into countless nation-states. Eventually, the leaders of the eight most influential clans on Gwat Trún consolidated their power and established a world government for the betterment of their people. They viewed this event with such significance that it was used to mark the epoch of their calendar, hence why it started on 1 Myúurk 0 (11 October 4,487,328 BC). This was the beginning of their empire, which they called Manleerghum “(the) Eternal Empire”. To the best of our knowledge, it functioned as a parliamentary democracy. While it had elected leaders, said democracy was always presided over by the eight clan heads, who had the power to veto any decisions made by the parliament. The clans were named Waarf, Tiir, Fnich, Karpáang, Fweníir, Gmawt, Bwiir, Gwatchék. The Fweníir was the most important of them all, and it is from their original ethnic group that the Gwat Myuun language was derived. Below is a photo of their home planet, taken by famed actress and photographer Qaatiraw Ferigaljak.

The early history of the Manleerghum was marked by initiatives to develop methods of interstellar travel. Soon enough, they stumbled upon faster-than-light (FTL) travel, and quickly began searching for new planets to conquer. Unlike the humans who would follow them, they were not interested in diplomacy. Rather, they wished to demonstrate their superiority to other alien civilizations and acquire laborers to work on various projects for them. These ranged from Dyson spheres in various star systems, to torture devices for their many prisoners, and even contraptions designed to terraform planets to their liking. Although power hungry at first, the Gwat Níir eventually felt satisfied on 15 Gmawt 2,586,001 (11 March 622,024 BC), the day they finally consolidated power over the three arms of the Milky Way Galaxy traditionally viewed as being a part of their dominion. Since not many dared to challenge their warriors, they were able to hold on to their territory for the rest of their existence. They spent the next few hundred thousand years holding a tight grip over their planetary gains, while also engaging in diplomacy with alien races for the first time in their history. They eventually reached a shaky agreement with a few neighboring empires (namely Kavolun and Tarja), and maintained a stable peace.

Nowadays, they are most well known for the Celestial Trials (Gwat Myuun: Kniwsyéet ul Yál Níir). These were a series of experiments over a couple thousand years in which the Gwat Níir attempted to harness divine energy left behind by the Ramaitokrutto in various celestial bodies to create super soldiers. In modern galactic circles, they are commonly referred to as yalniirs, from the Gwat Myuun term. They successfully accomplished this with members of their own species, predominantly military soldiers and death row prisoners who swore loyalty to the ruling clans. This procedure was done with a cone-shaped machine that was commissioned by a few scientifically oriented slaves. Around the year 2,950,000 (77,473 BC), they started meddling on Earth and taking various slaves. It's hypothesized that they might have caused the Youngest Toba eruption in a failed attempt to terraform the planet, which may have resulted in a population bottleneck among the humans of Earth. A few dozen millennia afterward, they thought of using human slaves to create yalniirs. Much like the Gwat Níir, humans had decent resilience and intellect and were thus seen as suitable candidates.

They decided to take their first test subject, a 39-year-old human from Earth named Dubnowalos Dubnanti, in the year 3,000,768 (1581 BC). Unfortunately, the experiment quickly went wrong. Typically, the machine used for this was only capable of being powered on for 30 seconds at a time. This is due to the sheer concentration of power found in divine energy. Any being who is subjected to it for more than a few seconds will gain incredible power. For whatever reason, the machine would simply not turn off, and Dubnowalos was subjected to it for nearly 2 minutes. As a result, Dubnowalos was imbued with way more energy than his overseers were able to handle. His first act with this new power was destroying the very machine that granted it to him. Amidst the ensuing chaos, he broke free and was never found by them again. Nevertheless, the Gwat Níir still continued with their experiments on various humans (both on Earth and in space).

With these yalniir supersoldiers in their army's ranks, it seemed that the Gwat Níir were well on their way to establishing hegemony over the rest of the galaxy. However, their time in this universe would soon be cut short. On 6 Kyéwsquun 3,001,177 (12 April 967 BC), every pureblooded Gwat Níir simply vanished without a trace. To this day, historians are not quite sure what happened to them. Some speculate that they ascended to a new plane of existence as the next stage in their evolution, while others think they were wiped out by some sort of plague endemic to their species.

All that is certain is that the sudden disappearance of the Gwat Níir left a political vacuum in this portion of the Galaxy. Many new polities were formed by former slaves of the Gwat Níir, with those run by humans eventually dominating the area. These human nations eventually coalesced into the modern-day Galactic Empire, which built off of the infrastructure left behind by their former captors.

Appearance and Basic Biology

As stated before, the average Gwat Níir was around 8 feet tall and weighed 300 pounds. Most members of the species were humanoids with dark green skin and a particularly bulky build. Although humanoid in body shape, their faces were a much different story. Due to the thickness of their necks, it appeared as if their heads were directly attached to their shoulders. Additionally, they also sported two long horns on their heads and three crimson eyes with no visible pupil or iris. Their mouths were beaked much like the turtles and tortoises of Earth. Below is a sketch made of a Gwat Níir male by an unknown human artist in the year 3,001,006.

Much like other species who were tampered with by the Ramaitokrutto, the Gwat Níir can be classified into two biological sexes (male and female). Gwat Níir women outnumber their male counterparts 3 to 1, and are a couple feet taller. The average woman of this species is 8.5 feet tall, whereas the men are typically 6.5 feet tall. The individual shown in this sketch, Yaakhwákh Griiknyúul, was a male of the species who stood at 8 feet tall, putting him significantly above the male average.

This size difference was believed to have partially contributed to the dominant role of women in Gwat Níir society. In their early years, many of the societies they formed were matriarchal, although lineages and inheritances were recorded along both paternal and maternal lines. Women, being stronger and larger than men, were given greater power in society. This also contributed to a general attitude of reverence towards them, lasting even into the later years of the Manleerghum.

Once they achieved their interstellar empire, the average Gwat Níir could expect to live at least 1000 years regardless of sex. The oldest known member of the species is Agaita Battura, who is over 3000 years old. She is the Queen Regnant of Tau Ceti e and is also the only known member of the species left. As a genetically engineered Gwat Níir / human hybrid, she was not affected by whatever caused the rest of her species to disappear. Her long life expectancy is believed to be due to her Gwat Níir heritage and further advances in medicine that have been made since their disappearance.

Final Words

The Gwat Níir are not a major component of this universe. Although they certainly molded it (and are the entire reason the story exists in the first place), they are meant to serve as a footnote in the overarching history of the world. This is because more focus will be placed on the humans they influenced, the human civilizations built up from the ashes of their once great Empire, and the interactions these civilizations have with their counterparts on Earth. Although, I will gladly elaborate more on the Gwat Níir if anyone is interested!

[esneirra973]

Lópaki - An Italic Space Creole

This is a new conlang for a worldbuilding project that’s been in my head for years! Lópaki is an analytic creole spoken in some of the outlying star systems of the Orion–Cygnus Arm. It is an Italic-based language that emerged from contact between Italic and Canaanite peoples who were taken from Earth and enslaved by the Gwat Níir (more on them in a later post). Although much of its vocabulary derives from Proto-Italic, it has a grammar with a noticeable Semitic influence. Given that it diverged from the other Italic languages over 3000 years ago, it is not mutually intelligible with any known language on Earth.

Phonology and Orthography

In universe, the Latin script is not used to write Lópaki, as its speakers are completely unfamiliar with it. It is instead written in the Standard Script commonly used throughout the Orion–Cygnus Arm, which I will touch upon in a later post. For our convenience, I have created a system for transcribing Lópaki in Latin letters.

/m n ɲ/ <m n gn>

/p b t d k g ʔ/ <p b t d c~ch g~gh '>

/t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/ <tz z q j>

/f s ʃ x h/ <f s x kh h>

/r l j w/ <r l y~i v~u>

/i u e o ɛ ɔ a/ <i u e o é ó a>

/ei oi ai eu ou au ia ua/ <ei oi ai eu ou au ia ua>

Glottal stops are never written initially because any word without an initial consonant will start with one by default. This is a phonological quirk shared with Arabic, where every word must start with a consonant. An example is the word agru “field” which is pronounced /ʔagru/.

Pronouns

The personal pronouns of Lópaki are mainly derived from Proto-Italic, with the exceptions of the third person pronouns which have a distinct Canaanite origin. Like many Semitic languages, each pronoun exhibits an independent and enclitic variant, shown below.

Singular: 

1st: mei / me

2nd masc: tu / te

2nd fem: tua / ta

3rd masc: hua / ho

3rd fem: hia / he

Plural: 

1st: nous / nu

2nd: bous / bu

3rd: huna / hu

The “enclitic” forms of pronouns can be placed after an object to indicate possession. For example, one could say fadra hu “their story”.

Nouns

Nouns only decline for number, and they do so in 4 different ways depending on the ending sounds of a noun. See below:

Any nouns that end in a consonant suffix -a when plural. This is a vestige of Proto-Italic best seen in the noun snib “snow” > sniba “snows”

Nouns that end in -a or -i simply add an -s when plural. For example, manti “mind” > mantis “minds”

All other nouns end in -u and form the plural more irregularly. This is another feature passed down from Proto-Italic, and is best seen in the previously mentioned agru “field”, which becomes agroi “fields”.

Verbs

Verbs in Lópaki are relatively simple, only conjugating for tense and mood. There are only two types of verbs, which are deemed a-stem and i-stem verbs. Examples of both are shown below:

ferri “to bear”

Ind. Past/Present: ferba/fer

Subj. Past/Present: feraba/fera

canari “to sing”

Ind. Past/Present: canaba/cana

Subj. Past/Present: canba/can

Since Lópaki employs a VSO word order, this means that person is shown by appending the enclitic forms of pronouns to the end of a verb. To demonstrate this, here is an example sentence:

Chédba me ho. “I cut him” < The verb used here is cognate with Latin caedere “to cut, hew, fell”

Lópaki also has three prepositions used for the sole purpose of indicating verbal aspects. They are the perfective, conditional, and perfective conditional particles. Here is an example sentence with each.

Ai me fialu. “I go alone.”

Au ai me fialu. “I have gone alone.”

Ol ai me fialu “I would go alone.”

Olau ai me fialu. “I would have gone alone.”

Irregular Verbs

There are only three irregular verbs, which are shown below. They are all derived from Proto-Italic.

essi “to be”

Ind. Past/Present: era/is

Subj. Past/Present: ere/sei

khari “to do”

Ind. Past/Present: khéba/khak

Subj. Past/Present: khaiba/khé

iri “to go”

Ind. Past/Present: iba/ai

Subj. Past/Present: ire/ya

Historical Phonology

Phonology of Proto-Italic

/m n/ <m n>

/p b t d k g kʷ gʷ/ <p b t d k g kʷ gʷ>

/ɸ β θ ð s z x ɣ xʷ ɣʷ/ <f β θ ð s z x ɣ xʷ ɣʷ>

/r l j w/ <r l j w>

/i u e ə o a/ <i u e ə o a>

/iː uː eː oː aː/ <

/ei oi ai ou au/ <ei oi ai ou au>

/eːi oːi aːi/ <

Loss of Labial Consonants

/kʷ gʷ xʷ ɣʷ/ > /p b ɸ β/

/sw zw/ > /ɸ β/

Fricative Shifts

/ɸ β/ > /f v/

/v ð ɣ/ > /b d g/ | otherwise they became /w d w/

/z x/ > /r h/

Initial Vowel Shifts

/ə/ > /a/

/eːi oːi aːi eːu oːu aːu/ > /iː oi ai eu uː au/

/i u e o a/ > /e o ɛ ɔ a/

/iː uː eː oː aː/ > /i u e o a/

/V/ > /Vː/ | stressed open syllables

/i(ː)w u(ː)w/ > /e(ː)u uː/

/V(ː)w/ > /V(ː)u/

Strengthening of Semivowels

/Viw Vuw/ > /Vjju Vwwu/ > /Vddju Vbbu/ > /Vddjo Vbbo/

Later Vowel Shifts

/ai au/ > /ɛ ɔ/

/ei ou/ > /ai au/

/iː uː eː oː ɛː ɔː aː/ > /i u ei ou ia ua a/

/V/ deleted in unstressed intertonic syllables

Shifts Involving Palatal Consonants

/Cj jC/ > /Cʲ/

/Nʲ/ > /ɲ/

/pʲ bʲ tʲ dʲ kʲ gʲ/ > /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/

/fʲ sʲ hʲ/ > /fj ʃ ʃ/

/rʲ lʲ wʲ/ > /rd͡ʒ ld͡ʒ d͡ʒ/

/mn gn kn/ > /ɲ/

/eiɲ oiɲ aiɲ iaɲ/ > /iɲ oɲ ɛɲ iɲ/

Shifts in Dental Consonants

/tl dl/ > /l/ | #_

/tl dl/ > /tr dr/

/θ/ > /x/