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.