#falconers would naturally come to know that a hiss means Back Off etc | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ranticore · 2 months ago

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Oh I have more questions! How do Harpies sound? Both when talking normally and trying to speak a human language. And how do humans sound when trying to speak harpy?

Sorry I fell asleep again anyway the raptor harpies in human flocks vocalise from their syrinx which is at the base of their neck and often their tongue is fully just not involved with vocalising at all. So they can quite easily talk with their mouth mostly shut and not moving which humans can find disconcerting. The sound of speech is surprisingly guttural and metallic, it sounds raspy and can often be interspersed with ear-splitting loud clicks and fire-alarm noises. In general harpy flocks are very noisy, too noisy for an average human to really enjoy. For distance communication they employ shrieks and screams, to threaten they hiss. When speaking human language they struggle with some sounds which would require a human tongue to produce ("th" for example) and the words sound spiky and hard instead of soft.

There's not a single human in this setting who's bothered trying to learn a word of any of the hundreds of harpy languages, aside from maybe scholars but even then idk. The nature of humans' relationship with harpies is exploitative; one bends to the other. Humans see no need to learn

#falconers would naturally come to know that a hiss means Back Off etc #but their harpies were largely born in human towns and denied any opportunity to learn how to speak #most /can't/ talk. to anyone. and can only express themselves non-verbally #picking up a human language-or any language-requires being taught at a young age and in many falconry traditions it's not seen as necessary #ice storm over kosa

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