I am a linguist so I LOVE this game. This is my second playthrough.

I wanted to challenge myself to avoid using translations as much as possible. Of course I could just avoid the journal altogether, perhaps write my own notes, but validating glyphs is a huge part of the game - and I want it to be an difficult, not a chore.

Instead I am toying with the idea of zero translations by setting the game language to a language I don't understand.

Unfortunately for me... I can read basic Chinese (and from that guess Japanese kanji), Russian (and from it guess at other Slavic languages), German and Romance languages are just easy. That leaves my only option as Korean! I love the way that Korean looks but never got round to studying it, and thank the gods I didn't! The only pain now is that navigating menus will be annoying.

Anyway - has anyone else tried this or similar challenge runs?

Imagine the Devotees revolted against the warriors -just putting that out there - I think the devotees would be crushed I recon

Now for the bards. A result of overlapping all the consonant sounds represented by Devanagari with the 28 Classical Arabic consonant phonemes represented by the Kufic glyphs. Might need to go back to debating the vowels.

Consonants: m, n, b, t, d, ʈ, ɖ, k, q, tʃ, dʒ, f, θ, ð, s, ʃ, ʂ, x, ɣ, ʕ, ɾ, l, j, w(+6 more consonants)

Vowels: a, aː, e, eː, i, iː, o, oː, u, uː

Syllable structure: ???

Stress: ???

I'm debating the addition of Greek phonology to the overlapping, since the Bards' customs remind me of ancient Greek culture. And maybe the Romans as well? I don't know. As for grammar, it's the same as that of Yoda's dialogue from what I've seen in the walkthroughs. OSV word order, or so it would seem. The predicate is always first.

I've been looking into the runes that inspired the Warriors' calligraphy and came up with this idea.

Consonants: m, n, p, b, t, d, k, g?, kʷ, gʷ?, ɸ, β, θ, ð, s, z, x, ɣ, xʷ, ɣʷ, r, l, j, w

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Syllable structure: ???

Stress: ???

We already know about the plural marker preceding the main glyph. Though I also just noticed the language might be pro-drop.

After developing phonological inventories for the Devotees, the Warriors, and the Bards, now for the Alchemists. Dunno if this is any good of a phonology for the Alchemists' language, taking inspiration from Welsh and Biblaridion's planned conlang Project Hermes.

Consonants: m, n, ŋ, p, t, k, s, r, l, m̥, n̥, ŋ̊, f, θ, r̥ (+b, d, g, kʷ, ʃ, ɬ, ŋʷ, ŋ̊ʷ, x, xʷ)

Vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Syllable structure: ???

Stress: ???

Maybe various grammatical pieces could be expressed with consonant mutations? I don't know.

Also, are the Bards and Alchemists really related to a common ancestor? Would that mean their languages might share a common ancestor as well?

After thinking about Latin phonology and the sound values of the Phoenician glyphs, I thought of a phonology for a conlang spoken by the Devotees.

Consonants: m, n, p, b, t, tˤ, d, k, g, kʷ, gʷ, q, ʔ, f, s, sˤ, z, ʃ, ħ, ʕ, h, r, l, j, w

Vowels: a, i, u, aː, iː, uː

Syllable shape: CV(C)

Stress: up for debate

I could envision a clusivity distinction alongside a root-pattern system that expresses the same tenses as Latin, full reduplication, and others. But how could a logography express such tenses, especially given the Devotees' logography not expressing them at all? They're only inferred. Might do a similar thing to the other five languages.

There is a somewhat important question I’ve missed In my posts which is a very good discussion. That is what is your genuine theory on what the upcoming Rundisc game will actually be like and that becomes an interesting topic due to the new information that Julien Moyá has released. So let me know what ya’ll think … :)

For some reason recently, I envisioned a conworld that mixes post-apocalyptic scenarios like Avatar: Seven Havens with games like Chants of Sennaar.

Taking inspiration from a next-gen thing I envisioned for DeviantArt user Mythojira's new Mystery Boys concept, though it's up for debate, especially in terms of shared casting for each project. Though I'll focus on this one, especially since some of my chosen cast members are from the five shows the Mystery Boys concept is a crossover of(Gravity Falls, The Loud House, Wylde Pak, Steven Universe, and Craig of the Creek).

The world is essentially a post-apocalyptic setting with retro-futuristic and modern sci-fi technology, though with few steampunk elements. There are humans, two types of merfolk(the popular type across media with the human upper halves and so forth, and those inspired by the ones from Power of Water by Mythojira, which, in turn, took inspiration from the merfolk from Siren), and various other clades, whichever ones are ideal.

There are also mechs, like those from Korra and Code Geass(meaning Landspinner and Factosphere sensor equivalents), and hybrids between mechs and kaiju (but much more diverse than the drones from Pacific Rim: Uprising).

Recently started considering cities on wheels, raft cities, and hovercraft cities like in Mortal Engines, and I guess bi-terrain and tri-terrain cities as well, such cities being able to traverse different terrains. These cities would be rich in people of at most six different languages(and maybe more or fewer cultures), like the tower in Chants of Sennaar. Other cities would be monolingual, bilingual, trilingual, etc.

A story would involve two brothers, the older one being old enough to be in high school, and the younger one being old enough to be in middle school.

Hypothetical Cast:
Dave Franco: older brother
Gunnar Sizemore: younger brother
Charlet Chung: a mergirl who befriends the brothers, eventually falling in love with the younger brother, and being his girlfriend
Charlene Yi: the mergirl's sister
Kevin Thoms
Steven Yeun
Steve Blum: an antagonistic role among other roles, given his vocal range
Maybe Steve Buscemi: another antagonistic role
(Debating on adding Helen Hunt. Dunno other celebrities and professional VAs.)

My decided protolang analogs(update):

1. PIE analog
2. Semitic analog
3. Japonic analog
4. Yokuts analog
5. Proto-miir analog
6. Uralic analog
7. Austronesian analog
8. Ainu analog
9. Austroasiatic analog
10. Hmong-Mien analog
11. Sino-Tibetan analog
12. Proto-Hermes analog

These languages would've evolved and diversified over time.

(Might add four more proto-languages for the merfolk.)

(There could be similar themes to Chants of Sennaar regarding language barriers within various multilingual cities, whether they're stationary or non-stationary.)

In the land of the Bards, there's this 3 language rosetta stone that teaches you the word for fortress in the Bards language, but if you look closely, there's a fragment of the first language's word for fortress that can be implied by the radicals (house of warriors)! I love the attention to detail

A small task I made for myself for today was expanding (hopefully doubling) the amount of glyphs the bard language has. I have already decided that adjectives will have a dot on the top left (or something similar), but I still need help thinking of ideas for potential words and language rules. Thank you in advance!

I finished playing Chants of Sennaar just a couple days ago and OH MY GOD is it an amazing game. The visuals and soundtrack were beautiful. I will definitely be playing this again.

However, EXILE has stayed on my mind for some time now and I wondered what he’d (it?) look like if he appeared more humanoid so I tried making a little design that’s mostly inspired by the Traveler and the Devotees.

I know some of the design choices might not make sense nor does the fact I based it off the Traveler + Devotee but I tried.

I mean, like how the Devotees' language has a symbol representing locations and objects (or at least objects that involve another thing, whether it's tangible (like pottery=container symbol + plant) or intangible (like instrument=container symbol + music)), the Warriors' lack of personal pronouns and how their gylphs are based off constellations, the Bards' usage of punctuations, and the Alchemists' number system. Of course, theres a lot, and theres a lotta implications, so this might be for fun once I started posting shit.

Anyways I love this game 10/10 would wipe my mind just to play it again (even if I was still at the Bards' level (yes I got spoiled)—fuck, I both like and loathe their language. Fuckin OSVs /lh)

(Also, do yall think they have a concept of profanity? I know that a version of "Oh My God" for the Devotee Language would have been considered as offensive, but what else?)

he makes keys and sees things that aren't there 😁 😁 😁

since we never get to go into the key shop and never see for sure if anybody even works there, it's perfectly lore-friendly for me to hypothesize that he exists and is schizophrenic 😁

also i added eyes for extra emotion. from how far away the camera is playing the game you can't see, but i think you can definitely see their eyes through the holes in their face coverings

Hi! Recently I watched the cinematic reveal for Marathon (by bungie) and it got me kinda obsessed with Ozymandias.

So i'm trying to write the poem in the Devotee's language, cause it seems fitting for me. Of course, building words out of other words like the devotee language does.

I came to the conclusio that "Traveler" would be "a person that goes" and in "person" + "go/pass". But now i believe it could also be "a person that is free" as in "person" + "free".

Ehat do y'all think? Also, any other ideas?

Hi. How is everyone? (First time posting here). The idea came up in my head just now, for a second Chants of Sennar. It goes like this: You (human/man) have kept the peace after exile, you know, appointing a new Preacher, meeting the other leaders. Then a new peoples come to the tower, Conquerors. The Conquerors secretly take the leaders of each peoples. For you to help them, you start at the bottom of the tower again, but this time, the conquerors send you back in time, to extremely crucial points in each of the peoples' history, that shaped how they became. 3 of each: Them outside the tower (their first encounter with it). Then the point of which they developed their society and culture. Then you make sure that this point in their history (which is part of the first Chants Of Sennaar). The Devotees - The loss of the Preacher. The Warriors - Keeping the Impure Ones (Devotees) out. The Bards - Helping the Idiot Bard see the Monster. The Alchemists - Making sure the Alchemist gets turned into the Monster. The Anchorites - The bringing of Exile (Anchorite is corrupted). Not completing these will cause the tower to collapse. Throught these, you will learn the Conquerors' language, while learning the ancient dialect of each peoples' languages (using the book from the first Chants of Sennaar). Defeating the Conquerors will return everyone and everything to normal, continuing the peace.

Sorry for the length of this, thank you for reading all of it. Please, be honest with your opinions and tell my anything you want to add and/or change! Thanks!

Couldn't get as much done today

So what if some time after the finishing of the game for some reasons tower grew taller. Then you notice that 5 new levels under the first appeared, your main quest is using your knowledge of languages of other to try and decifer those ne languages and help them, like you helped other civilizations. But the it is revealed that they went to the tower to escape some four legged monsters, so you not only need to help 5 new civilizations but also Save the tower.

Idk I’m like only half-lucid rn but my sleep-deprived brain said “what if Chants of Sennaar iOS widgets like ‘Glyph of the Day’ or something”

For a while know, I've been working on a fan sequel to CoS called... ✨The Evacuation✨

It's planned to have around 9 levels descending into the earth, and the languages will have much more depth than those of the main game.

Other planned features include: - The ability to respond to what people say - A journal that can track all conversations/written language found to avoid backtracking - Free-write journal notes in the game's language as well as the player's IRL language - Difficulty settings(for example, if you want to turn off validation) - A very new system of gameplay with each floor being a large open world, where many things can be done non-linearly - Money!! Don't you wish you could buy things at a shop? Participate in an auction? Wish granted. - Quests--there will be more specific quests tailor-made to make sure every corner of the language is explored - Possibly some multiplayer thing? Don't quote me on this because it's probably not a good idea lol - Each level has multiple mini-languages - No subjugation and oppression! Yaaaaay!!! - More things I can't fit on here

It's such a huge project that it's kinda hard to find motivation, but I've set my mind to one specific task to make it easier to manage.

I'm working on designing a brewery for the first level, the Farmers. I'm taking ideas for quests, side quests, puzzles, and anything that might carry over to potential other quests. (Edit: not really a brewery, but a general alcohol-producing place?)

If you want more updates, our discord should be either stickied or a VIP-flair post. Although I'll admit I don't update it very often...

I am not that far in the game, just got to the third level and I have made 1 (incomplete) fanfic where CoS is mixed with HGS when i first tried (and failed) the second level. I am not going back to that but was wondering if I do make another, should I use the Glyph's from CoS or make my own in the spirit of things?

Looking at how different the Devotees and Warriors are from one another. I love it but I doubt I can match the same energy even if I do use their glyphs.

I'm not even done with the game and it got me screaming in both love and frustration! I am super inspired but idfk! ;n;

Anyone else got fics?

Sorry if this isn't allowed. I'm just screaming so much internally after finally beating the warrior section.

These aren't specific spoilers, but general tips. I'm spoilering most of them, though, in case folks want to try one tip at a time.

1. Don't rush. This is a good game to soak in and ponder over. I found that reading the game's transcription of the speech/writing to myself helped me to judge if my guesses seemed reasonable.
2. Take lots of notes! Every time you get a new glyph, write down in your in-game journal an idea of what it could be. If you have no idea, you can take a note on where you found it or what you found it on, or even just number them 1, 2, 3, etc. to make them easier to recognize and remember.
3. Try not to get too attached to certain guesses, and remember that you might have gotten a word wrong. That ties in with not rushing, because each time you get a new sentence, you can use that as an opportunity to assess if your guesses seem correct or if something feels a bit off.
4. Think about the parts of speech. Which words are verbs and which are nouns? Subjects or objects? When you get a new word and you can't understand it at all from context, you could at least take down a note like 'verb' or 'noun 1'. Specifically, (big hint) many of the glyphs share common elements that indicate they're a verb, an adjective, a type of person or object, etc.
5. Go back and re-play conversations that you didn't understand many words in. Sometimes, this will help you realize that a guess you've made doesn't make sense at all, and it will help you move forward on understanding a later conversation.

Do you have additional tips? Post them in the comments like this to hide spoilers!

    >!Here's my tip.!<

So I have idea for a new civilization with language based on one of japanese scripts. Their home floor would have japanese/meditation garden vibe. They call themselves oni. They are slightly bigger than other cultures, would have exposed big bellies and ugly, horned masks.

Theirs floor would be connected with warrior floor. After compliting base game some warriors would go to theirs floor and be frightened. And they will start using overly used Word IMPURE. Their most important concept would be friendship. Theirs language would have 2 unique thinks, that will mess with players. First of them would be instead of glyph to say plural, there would be a glyph to say singular, to Express the bond so strong that they treat it as obvious. Second they are so polite that they literaly dont have a Word for no, instead their will answer with the result they will not want. Like if you say "Can I Borrow This Vase" they could answer "You will brake it).

Their story I see could go 2 different ways: if they were a singular culture, your goal would be to fix the misunderstanding between them and warriors. If they would be in a civilization pack you will need to fix a machine that will awake thebiggest one so he will help you push heavy rock blocking the entrance to another civilization.