LINEAR QUENDORAN B (OLD TONGUE)
Linear Quendoran B, also known as the Old Tongue, is the ancient
magical language of Zork used of dragons and some druids. This runic
language details the power of High Magic and lends its runic power to
every woven spell and the script in which all magical spells must be
written. All that binds a magical property to its physical form is how
it is Named, by way of the Old Tongue. For example, this ancient runic
language empowers dragons above all magical creatures. Thus the Names
(true names, not call names) of every creature, animal, plant or other
property in the Empire are listed in the Old Tongue. All spells are
first composed in Old Speech, and some can only be
deciphered through Old Speech today.
It has always been quietly acknowledged by some of the more progressive
enchanters that the linguistical root of magic, commonly known as the
Old Tongue, is the same language once used by the Mithican tribes. This
was quite a scandalous assertion when it first surfaced, during the
early ninth century. Many conservative guild members felt that it was
blasphemous to attribute such credit to a group of people who had been
perceived as savage and culturally inconsequential up to that point,
who could not possibly have developed such an enlightened understanding
of the universe. But the words of the renowned historian, Ozmar, in 821
GUE, held sway. “The ancients of our kind were nearer to knowing the
truth about science than those who we call scientists today.”
It is now known, however, that the seemingly awkward, runic words used
by sorcerers and enchanters to invoke magic spells during the age of
thaumaturgy are the same words that were incorporated into every day
Mithican life. Magic flowed through the Mithican people with amazing
intensity. Virtually everything that was said by a tribesperson had the
accidental side effect of invoking some potentially dangerous spell.
This is thought to have caused many problems for the Mithicans, and is
probably the reason for their disappearance around the time of 800 BE
in which they were all transformed into a race of intelligent platypi.
It is also an excellent demonstration of the perils inherent in magic
usage that, were it not for the whole magic debacle of 966 GUE and the
guiding hand of the Grand Inquisitor, would have most likely destroyed
our entire society.
TRIVIA:
Dragons today are still fluent in the Old Tongue.