Twin Aster (Man in Space’s conworld megathread)

[Khemehekis]

It is a…I guess at its core it's a platformer or obstacle-course game?…that was designed so that failure was fun.

Interesting. Indie developer? I haven't played video games in over two decades, so I don't know much about the contemporary ones.

So Proto-Taltic was devised when a user on the ZBB got a wonderful gleb phonology where vowels outnumbered consonants two-to-one. The only consonants were /t k kʷ s l/ (well, sort of; the allophony rules inadvertently phonemicized a sixth phoneme, /tʷʲ/); other than that, you had your basic ten-vowel system. Grammar-wise, PTa is highly synthetic and basically exclusively prefixing.

Amazing backstory! Xavante has an equal number of vowels and consonants. If you count the long vowels and diphthongs as separate phonemes, Hawaiian's even Taltickier than Proto-Taltic, though.

Ah, PTa only had the monophthongs. Any "diphthongs" are sequences of unit vowels in hiatus.

I knew Proto-Taltic didn't have diphthongs. I just meant Hawaiian outfoes Proto-Taltic at having a high vowel-to-consonant ratio.

There was also inalienable possession. Body parts were inalienably possessed, as were the following:

*kɤs "basket"
*tu "home(town)"
*ɯitʲ "soul"
*kitʲʷ "tunic, shirt"
*kʷɔtɔɛtʲ "property, premises"
*ke "voice"
*kulsɯkʷ "meal"
*leɕakʷ "grave"
*ɔɯs "birth"
*ɔkɤlɔ "death"

Beautiful! I was surprised to see "basket" was inalienable. There must be some cultural story behind that. Were the Proto-Talts a people who always walked around with fruit baskets on their heads, perhaps?

I am not sure yet, though that would make sense. Coming from a very mountainous region as they do I could see it.

Cool! It'll just take a little more work on the conculture to figure this out.

Always nice to find something that works and make things "click" like a functioning seatbelt. And I've had a lot of fun these past few minutes saying "Ítöð" over and over to myself. It's like Almea or Yeola -- a whole world!

Seeing this was extremely gratifying. Thank you.

You're welcome!

OK, so having run things through Shagomir's Planet Calculator:

This?

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/ ... formation/

I think I could use that!

- A day on Ítöð is a bit over 26 hours long (the solar day is 26.12 hours; the sidereal day, 26.02).
- A local year is 253.1 local days, or almost 275.5 Earth days.
- Radius and mass are both ~102% that of Earth. Density is 96%; gravity, 98%.
- There's two moons. The inner moon is about 390'000 km from the planet and orbits in 28.12 local days. The outer moon is some 692'000 km from the planet and it orbits in 65.62 local days. This essentially works out to a stable 3:7 resonance, if I read Wikipedia correctly.
- SolStation reports a variability of 10.137 Earth days (or about 9.35 days on Ítöð).

[Khemehekis]

sëtó 'zơdo-fruit' > isotó 'zơdo-fruits'

The word zơdo reminds me of zuqo. A zuqo is a Hapoish fruit; it has a hard, spiky peel, like a pineapple or a durian.

[Man in Space]

I should probably write some about CT measure words.

I want CT to have a rich supply of measure words. These will in some descendants turn into a classifier or noun-class system. Notably they all end in a nasal n which assimilates to a following consonant. This list will probably be expanded later as I get ideas for them.

átsn – people as resources (e.g. troops, staff, aides, volunteers, assistants, organizational members); livestock, agricultural animals
ðín – arms, weapons one person can operate
ðukn – servings of foodstuffs that include meat as an ingredient
ekhín – bodily functions/actions, body parts
érn – ordnance, weapons that take multiple people to operate
ësín – musical instruments
gén – people (generally)
gîn – potable liquids, drinks, beverages
gugn – stories, songs, recitals, debates, artistic or rhetorical performances
ĝen – wide objects
ĝïsn – buildings, divisions of buildings, rooms, architectural elements
héon – lights, radiation sources
hikn – cities, regions, areas, nations, geopolitical entities
ían – yellow plants
itłon – government officials, religious leaders, celebrities
în – works of art (except statues of persons)
îsn – events, occurrences, dates, schedules, routine happenings
kaln – freshwater fish
katn – agricultural or earthworking tools
kôn – violent acts; flaws, defects
lárn – containers, vessels
lën – miscellaneous, general, not otherwise specified
łên – construction tools
łíln – insects, parasites, shellfish
nekn – statues of persons
nôg – long objects
on – saltwater fish
sîrn – clouds, birds, celestial objects
tatsn – articles of clothing
ugn – black plants
ûrn – documents

kihê kôĝ kiĝgô ðáraʕ ü
six MW.violence theft serious DEF
'the six great thefts'

----

So here's the tentative layout of the system:

0 AU – Xi Boötis A
0.45 AU – Planet one (ersatz Mercury?)
0.8 AU – Ítöð
1.14 AU – Planet three (kind of a Mars-like planet)
1.8 AU – Asteroid belt
3.2 AU – Icy planet

Why no gas giants? Because they orbit Xi Boötis B; per SolStation it has at least one companion in a torch orbit. This is actually relevant to and important for my purposes—such a planet could be a candidate for a helium planet, which would provide a fantastic source of helium-3. This drives the plot in that whoever can get there first and keep control of it would have a monopoly on the helium-3 supply. Xi Boötis B gets reasonably close at its periapsis (supposedly about 16.5 AU, a little closer than Uranus), and in any event reaching it at its apoapsis (50.7 AU, a little farther out than Pluto gets) isn't too terrible with atomic rockets.

[Man in Space]

I actually think I'm going to switch up the last two entries in the planet list…3.2 AU is pretty close to the maximum stable orbital distance around Xi Boo A, per the august Dr. Wik E. Pedia, so I figure it makes sense that maybe nothing got big enough to clear the neighborhood. Also there's evidence of such a belt around Xi Boo A and I figure I might as well put one there. Would make sense to mine for volatiles and generally have some fun with rockets there.

0 AU – Xi Boötis A
0.45 AU – Planet one (ersatz Mercury?)
0.8 AU – Ítöð
1.14 AU – Planet three (kind of a Mars-like planet)
1.8 AU – Planet four (depressing ice ball)
3.2 AU – Asteroid belt

As for Xi Boo B…

0 AU – Xi Boötis B
0.04 AU – Náiráð
? – Other gas planet with an oxygenated moon used as a refining base, probably in a weird orbit

Náiráð is the helium planet, in-universe named after a deity in the pantheon of the Patchwork States (god of destruction, heat, and fire, later shoehorned into rocketeering), out-of-universe named after Winchell "Nyrath" Chung, creator of Atomic Rockets. I figured it a good a name as any, and might as well give the guy a shout-out since I made such extensive use of his work in doing the background work on all this. In-story its significance lies in the fact that it's a wonderful source of helium-3, far better than any of the balls of rock that orbit the A star. All the hydrogen got blown off so there's less filtering to do.

The downside is, the blasted planet is in a torch orbit (the period is a couple hours short of four Earth days), which makes things somewhat difficult logistically speaking. To say it's hot is an understatement. I surmise that the actual hot spot on the planet isn't dead center but offset somewhat; I seem to recall there's at least one similar exoplanet. It's pretty much all whites and grays, except the eye of the mega-hurricane on the day side is a deep jet black. I don't know whether or not it'd be hot enough for the night side to glow. To get there from the second planet's moon, you have to bleed off a lot of energy to get in close enough, which is somewhat of a downer. But hey, energy monopoly.

As for the second planet, I'm guessing it'll be in a weird orbit thanks to the migration of Náiráð. Not exactly sure what that'll look like as of yet.

----

Tim Ar bladeships (nketegru ar, from nke 'type of bladed weapon' + tegru 'ship, vessel', so named because they cut through space like a knife) are multipurpose in nature, but the most important use case is that they're designed to be able to quickly shuttle people and cargo to and from Náiráð. To that end, they use Zubrin's nuclear salt water engines (NSWRs). If they blew off everything in an epic blaze of glory they could get up to one or two percent lightspeed, though that would be idiotic.

As it stands, they're torchships. The relevant uranium is blown out the back of the ship at well above escape velocity so they don't have to worry about it hanging around and poisoning the system.

Bladeships have several things going for them:
- You don't dare attack one in orbit (either from another in-orbit ship or from a terrestrial source) because the propulsion system is just as likely to ruin your day as it is the ship's if the engine is damaged, and in any case they're armed to the teeth themselves. Not that it's strictly-speaking necessary, as if the business end is pointed at you you're likely to suffer existence failure if they so much as burp the engines.
- Notwithstanding the uranium or plutonium required to power the thing, you can use your basic water as the reaction mass.
- High specific impulse and high thrust. Launch windows? Where we're going, we don't need launch windows. And you can get there in style, accelerating—in the scientific sense of the word—all the way, except for the brief skew flip in the middle.
- Mass budgets aren't as much of a concern, and you can shuffle along with large payloads and/or many personnel.
- If nothing else, they're impressive and terrifying. Only the Tim Ar have them, and woe betide you if you forget it.

Bladeship names tend to be overly grandiose, anthropomorphized, and (at least in theory) badass, though whoever names the ships tries too hard. Translations include:
- My Footprint Is Destruction
- I Lay Waste to Continents
- My Voice Brings Ruin
- I See All
- The Moons Are My Respite
- I Bring Light to Worlds
- The Wind Is My Brother
- In My Shadow is Terror
- I Extinguish Nations
- Lightning Obeys Me
- Mountains Burn Beneath Me
- In My Reflection Is Death
- The Night Fears Me
- Submit to Me and Live
- I Give No Quarter
- The World Disappoints Me
- I Cause Mass Extinctions
- Attack Me and Die
- I Spread Fire Between the Stars
- On My Shoulders Is Civilization
- Provoke Me Not
- I Command the Meteor

[Man in Space]

I was typesetting some stuff set in Twin Aster for a creative exercise given me by my mentor, and I discovered the font's character support is lacking (I really, really like the TT Marxiana family in a two-column setup. It's super neat), so I have decided to redo the romanization of CT (as it's the language that will primarily be encountered in my work, I suspect) as follows:

/m n ŋ/ m n ĝ
/t k/ t k
/θ s ɬ x h/ ð s ł ḫ h
/ɹ l ʕ/ r l g

Vowels are the same as before.

Some nketeḫru ar names in the original:

Ágeuḫtúðtáḫkitléiłĝ'us
áge uḫtúð táḫkitl éił n ĝus
COP destroy footprint within GEN 1SG
'In My Footprint Is Destruction'

Nïḫtíðííhrĝus
nïḫtíðí /hír ĝus
sack land/PL 1SG
'I Lay Waste to Continents'

Laghárïsakarésámanüĝ'us
laghá rïsakaré sáman ü n ĝus
cause.VBLZ disaster.area voice DEF GEN 1SG
'My Voice Brings Ruin'

Genrmrłámûsĝus
genr mr łá mûs ĝus
observe all.DIST and.N all.PROX 1SG
'I See All'

Ágeðénrüĝ'uséĝtisłámïsteḫ
áge ðénr ü n ĝus Éĝtis łá Mïsteḫ
COP rest DEF GEN 1SG larger.moon and.N smaller.moon
'The Moons Are My Respite'

Lagháikmĝusítöðséḫar
laghá ikm ĝus ítöð séḫ ar
cause.VBLZ daylight 1SG world for PL
'I Bring Light to Worlds'

Ágehöĝ'usḫuúü
áge hö n ĝus ḫuú ü
COP brother GEN 1SG wind DEF
'The Wind Is My Brother' (The missing ü there is not a typo; this moniker suggests there may be brothers other than the wind as well)

Ágeáłiikránéiłüĝ'us
áge áłi ikrán éił ü n ĝus
COP terror shadow within DEF GEN 1SG
'In My Shadow Is Terror'

Mértakontákĝus
mértak /noták ĝus
cull country/PL 1SG
'I Extinguish Nations'

Hétrágĝusïlaĝüar
hétrág ĝus ïlaĝ ü ar
obey 1SG lightning DEF PL
'Lightning Obeys Me'

Intëĝ'sekáhrakĝusgú
intëĝ ĝsek /hárak ĝus gú
RFLX burn mountain/PL 1SG under
'Mountains Burn Beneath Me'

Ágenáaḫlteĝtaðéiłüĝ'us
áge náaḫl teĝtað éił ü n ĝus
COP kill reflect.image within DEF GEN 1SG
'In My Reflection Is Death'

Téhráłiḫiłámĝushaekáhnü
téhr áłi ḫiłám ĝus hae káhn ü
feel.emotion fear come.from.ATEL 1SG REL night DEF
'The Night Fears Me'

Taĝkeiĝusöðtöhír
taĝkei ĝus öð töhír
submit.to 1SG and.V survive
'Submit to Me and Live'

Níirahðálsëosréamĝus
níir /haðál sëos réam
accept person.NMLZ surrender none.MED 1SG
'I Give No Quarter'

Trmaĝtéĝ'usítöðü
tr maĝtéĝ ĝus ítöð ü
cause.state.VBLZ disappointment 1SG world DEF
'The World Disappoints Me'

Trtiúlóðharmûsĝus
tr tiúl /ðóhar mûs ĝus
cause.state.VBLZ null species/PL all.PROX 1SG
'I Cause Mass Extinctions'

Háḫáðĝusöðsihtí
háḫáð ĝus öð sihtí
lash.out.at 1SG and.V die
'Attack Me and Die' (this wouldn't be understood as 'I attack and die' because háḫáð kind of forces the first argument to be parsed as an object)

Sôłĝtekĝusutihénsïrsîü
sôł ĝtek ĝus /tühén sïrsî ü
spread fire 1SG star/PL among DEF
'I Spread Fire Between the Stars'

Ágeúhtrkehsélüekmárlüĝ'us
áge úh tr kehsél ü /kemár l ü n ĝus
COP PASS cause.state.VBLZ proper DEF shoulder/PL on DEF GEN 1SG
'On My Shoulders Is Civilization'

Ðênkoĝusr
ðênko ĝus r
agitate 1SG NEG
'Provoke Me Not' (kind of playing with the syntax a bit; it would have the sense of 'provoke not me', but this is done to emphasize that ĝus is not the subject)

Tiḫkóramsnáĝus
tiḫkór /masná ĝus
command shooting.star/PL 1SG
'I Command the Meteor' (actually kind of a double-meaning here, as masná also means 'bullet', 'missile', or 'projectile')

[Creyeditor]

Wow, these are some badass names. Are all their names like that?

[eldin raigmore]

Wow, these are some badass names. Are all their names like that?

[Man in Space]

Wow, these are some badass names. Are all their names like that?

Frequently, yes. Personal names native to CT tend to be nominalized sentences and have a bias towards the grandiose, e.g. Éðenḫuúühé:

Éðenḫuúühé
éðen ḫuú ü hé
drive wind DEF 3SG
'he rides the wind'

The major difference is that personal names tend to use the third-person pronoun hé in them; it is extremely rare for a personal name to use the first-person ĝus.

[Man in Space]

So basically what happened with the plurals was, back in the day there was this pluralizing particle *aɹ in PTO. As a function word, it eroded into something like *ɐɹ or *əɹ and ended up having some sort of sandhi effect on the following initials when it was of shape CV-. Basically:

aɹ#CV → ə=CV (maybe via → V=CV?) → #VC

----

I was typesetting my CT grammar doc in LaTeX today and I noticed something about the plurals. It makes me want to make Eastern and Central CT a clade where initial high vowels delete except before CC. Why? Because this:

tük 'heap' ~ utik → tük ~ tik
tël 'field of study' ~ itol → tël ~ tol
ḫêł 'mess' ~ iḫół → ḫêł ~ ḫół
kïrï 'child' ~ ikuri → kïrï ~ kuri

This causes the vowel alternation to be the sole arbiter of whether or not it's plural.

Eastern Tim Ar also has the quirk of labializing velars before rounded vowels and then simplifying the hybrid vowels, so we'd get alternations like kuru ~ puru and ḫół ~ fół.

----

So, redoing changes to Central Tim Ar in light of this:

[- cons + hi] → Ø / #_ ! _CC unless it's _NC in which case NC assimilates and becomes a prenasalized stop
æ → a
h → s / E_
h → f / B_
h → Ø
m n ŋ → mb nd ŋg / _{a,ʕ}
ʕ → ŋ / _%
ʕ → Ø / [+ cons + vc]_, _[+ cons + vc]
ʕ → h
ɤ ɯ → o u
d g → z ɣ / V_
{zɹ,ɹz,ɮɹ,ɹɮ} {zl,lz,ɮl,lɮ} → ɹː lː
t d → ts dz / _E
ai ay au → e ø o
a → Ø / _V
i y u → ts tf f / _V
á é ǿ í ý ó ú → ɨ i̯a i̯a i̯e i̯ø u̯a u̯o
ɣVɣ → ɣV
F → Ø / _#
ɬ ɮ → ʃ l
θ ð → s ɹ
{ɹ,l} → ʃ / _#
ei øy ou → e ø o
N → Ø / _F
V → Ø / Vɣ_
sts zdz → st zd vel. sim.

So Tim Ar /tìm àɹ/ becomes [tsimbaʃ] Tzimbach. Let's see some other words…

mkíḫ [m̩gíx] 'group of provinces' → [ŋ̩gi̯e] ngie
hagm [haʕm̩] 'region' → [ahm̩] ahm
kǽmr [kámɹ̩] 'city' → [kɨmʃ] câmch
iteĝ [ìdèŋ] 'table' → [tseŋ] tzeng
haðál [hàðál] 'person' → [azɨʃ] azâch
kuasa [kùàzà] 'landmark' → [kfz] cfaza
síkna [sígnà] 'white' → [si̯ei̯nda] sieinda
hún [hún] 'black' → [u̯on] uon
kiĝ [kìŋ] 'red' → [kiŋ] quing
ténḫo nihít [ténɣò nìhít] 'ninety' → [tsi̯ai̯nisi̯et] tziainisiet
ténḫo [ténɣò] 'one hundred' → [tsi̯ai̯] tziai
ténḫo kahál [ténɣò kàhál] 'one hundred ten' → [tsi̯ai̯ɨʃ] tziaiâch (ooh, I really like this)
kátgïn [kádʕɯ̀n] 'wallet, purse' → [kɨzun] câzun
îĝté [ɯ́ŋdé] 'snack, light meal' → [ndzi̯a] ndzia
naá [nàá] 'bread' → [ndɨ] ndâ
höhsë [hø̀hsɤ̀] 'four' → [øsso] œsso
uḫtúð [ùxtúθ] 'destroy' → [stu̯o] stuo
kólïs [kólɯ̀s] 'copper' → [ku̯alu] qualu
gákłi [ʕákɬì] 'silver' → [hɨkɬi] hâcchi
ûn [ýn] 'gold' → [i̯œn] iœn
łeðáĝ [ɬèðǽŋ] 'be in front of' → [ʃeɹɨŋ] cherâng
hatraák [hàdɹàák] 'distend' → [aɹːɨk] arrâc
kîtren [kɯ́dɹèn] 'report to' → [ku̯oɹːen] quorren
uhḫa [ùhxà] 'tie up, bind, fasten' → [xa] gha

[Man in Space]

Let's try some changes to Eastern Tim Ar, shall we?

[- cons + hi] → Ø / #_
V → Ø / [+ same V](C)_# (tone not important for this rule)
ŋ k g x ɣ → m p b f v / _{y,ø,u,o}
y ø ɯ ɤ → i e u o
æ → e
{θ,ð} → j
ʕ → Ø / V_
ʕ → j
VjV → Vj for same V, with contour assimilation
VV → V for same V, with contour assimilation
C̩ → Ce (takes the same tone as the preceding vowel in the word, if any; otherwise goes to low tone)
V(h) → Ø / _V
ks kɬ → st st
Nasal assimilation to following obstruents, otherwise homorganic stop insertion
{p,b} {t,d} {k,g} → w j ʕ / V_%
e…e i…i a…a o…o u…u → je…e je…i ʕa…a wo…o wo…u
s z ɬ ɮ → ʃ ʒ s z
Final high syllable attracts stress, otherwise stress the penult where it exists, then dump tones
i u → je jo / _{x,ɣ,ŋ}
{x,ɣ} → Ø / _%
e o i u → a a e o / _ʕ, ʕ_
kj gj → ʃ ʒ
Stressed in the penult:
a e o → aj ej oj / _…e
a e o → aw ew ow / _…o
e o → i u / posttonic ultima
ij aʕ uw → je ʕa wo /
{ɹ,l} → j / _#
ʕ → Ø / _V{w,j}
ʕC → Cː
C → Ø / _ʕ
h → Ø / #_Vj
h → j / #_
V → Ø / before same V unless this would delete the stressed vowel, in which case delete the unstressed one instead
t d k g → s z ʃ ʒ / _{j,i}

mkíḫ [m̩gíx] 'group of provinces' → [miˈʒe] migié
hagm [haʕm̩] 'region' → [ˈajmi] ájmi
Tim Ar [tìm àɹ] → [ˈsjama] Sjáma
kámr [kǽmɹ̩] 'city' → [ʃimˈbɹe] cimbré
síkna [sígnà] 'white' → [ˈʃenna] ciénna
hún [hún] 'black' → [jun] jun
kiĝ [kìŋ] 'red' → [ʃeŋ] cieng
ténḫo nihít [ténɣò nìhít] 'ninety' → [simvoˈnje] simvonjé
ténḫo [ténɣò] 'one hundred' → [ˈtemvu] témvu
ténḫo kahál [ténɣò kàhál] 'one hundred ten' → [sjamˈva] sjamvá

[Man in Space]

I think I have some decent changes to Western Tim Ar:

m → w
m̩ n̩ ŋ̩ ɹ̩ l̩ → u a i e o
Nasal assimilation
θ ð → f v
ɹ l → s ɬ / _#
æ → je
n t d s z ɬ ɮ ɹ l → ɲ tʲ dʲ ʃ ʒ ɬʲ ɮʲ j ʎ / _{e,i}
h → ʃ / _E
ø y → e i
ɤ ɯ → ə ɨ
t tʲ d dʲ → ts tʃ dz dʒ / _{i,ɨ,u}
i ɨ u → e ə o / #(C)_(C)(C)a
i…i ɨ…ɨ u…u → i…je ɨ…jə u…jo
{xt,kt} → ks
hV → Ø / _…V
h → Ø
penult deletion in trisyllables+
i ɨ u → ja ja wa / [- cons + hi]…_
{ew,əw} {iw,ɨw} → ow uw
Initial high vowels add their tone to the second syllable, then delete
Same V, different tone → contour tone
{x,ɣ} → w / _%
ɬʲ ɮʲ → ʃ ʒ
a…a → a…e
x ɣ → k g / _V
e…o ə…o → e…we ə…wə / _(C)#
i ɨ u → e ə o / ʕ_, _ʕ
ʕ → j

mkíḫ [m̩gíx] 'group of provinces' → [gjǎw] gyǎu
hagm [hàʕm̩] 'region' → [jò] jo
Tim Ar [tìm àɹ] → [tʃòwàs] Tšowas
kámr [kǽmɹ̩] 'city' → [kjówè] kyówe
iteĝ [ìdèŋ] 'table' → [dʲèŋ] jeng
haðál [hàðál] 'person' → [váɬ] váł
kuasa [kùàzà] 'landmark' → [kùàzè] kuaze
síkna [sígnà] 'white' → [ʃégnà] šégna
hún [hún] 'black' → [ún] ún
kiĝ [kìŋ] 'red' → [kìŋ] king
ténḫo nihít [ténɣò nìhít] 'ninety' → [tʲéŋgòɲʃjét] céngoñšyét
ténḫo [ténɣò] 'one hundred' → [tʲéŋgwè] céngwe
ténḫo kahál [ténɣò kàhál] 'one hundred ten' → [tʲéŋgòkáɬ] céngokáł
kátgïn [kádʕɯ̀n] 'wallet, purse' → [kádjə̀n] kádyën
îĝté [ɯ́ŋdé] 'snack, light meal' → [ɲdʲé] ñjé
naá [nàá] 'bread' → [nǎ] nǎ
höhsë [hø̀hsɤ̀] 'four' → [ʃèsə̀] šesë
uḫtúð [ùxtúθ] 'destroy' → [ksjǒf] ksyǒf

[Man in Space]

Think I did some good changes to Proto-Southern Tim Ar…

m̩ n̩ ŋ̩ ɹ̩ l̩ → mə nə ŋə ɹə lə
m n ŋ → b d g
k g → tʃ dʒ / _E
V{x,ɣ,h} → Vː
h → j / #_
{θ,ð} → n
VːV → Vː, tone retracts to previous syllable
C → [+ vc] / V_V
ɣ → j
b d g → β ɹ j / V_V
ə → i / CC_#
ə → Ø
æ → jo
j → Ø / {tʃ,dʒ}_
ɯ ɤ → ə a / a…_
ɯ ɤ → i e / B…_
ɯ ɤ → jə ja
ø y → jaw jew (vel sim.)
jj → dʒ
e i → ja je / _(C)(C)j
Vʕ → Vˀ / _C
ʕV → Vˀ
b d g → β ɹ j / V_V
a (→ ɐj) → oj / a…_
V → Ø / _V
{ɹ,l} → n / _#

mkíḫ [m̩gíx] 'group of provinces' → [bjíː] byíí
hagm [hàʕm̩] 'region' → [hàːˀβ] haaˀv
Tim Ar [tìm àɹ] → [tìβàn] Tivan
kámr [kǽmɹ̩] 'city' → [tʃóbɹí] chóbrí
iteĝ [ìdèŋ] 'table' → [ìɹèg] ireg
haðál [hàðál] 'person' → [jànójn] yanóin
kuasa [kùàzà] 'landmark' → [kàzòj] kazoi
síkna [sígnà] 'white' → [sígdà] sígda
hún [hún] 'black' → [húd] húd
kiĝ [kìŋ] 'red' → [tʃìg] chig
ténḫo nihít [ténɣò nìhít] 'ninety' → [tjádjòɹíːt] tyádyoríít
ténḫo [ténɣò] 'one hundred' → [tjádjò] tyádyo
ténḫo kahál [ténɣò kàhál] 'one hundred ten' → [tjádjòjáːn] tyádyoyáán
kátgïn [kádʕɯ̀n] 'wallet, purse' → [káɹə̀ˀd] kárəˀd
îĝté [ɯ́ŋdé] 'snack, light meal' → [jə́gdé] yә́gdé
naá [nàá] 'bread' → [dój] dói
höhsë [hø̀hsɤ̀] 'four' → [dʒaːwzjòj] yaauzyòi
uḫtúð [ùxtúθ] 'destroy' → [ùːɹún] uurún

[Khemehekis]

Congratulations on your new name, Man in Space!

[Man in Space]

Congratulations on your new name, Man in Space!

Thank you!

I should start the CT writing system. But to that end I have a question: Hieroglyphics or cuneiform? Maybe one then the other, the cuneiform being simplified hieroglyphs…how does that sound?

[Khemehekis]

Congratulations on your new name, Man in Space!

Thank you!

You're welcome!

I should start the CT writing system. But to that end I have a question: Hieroglyphics or cuneiform? Maybe one then the other, the cuneiform being simplified hieroglyphs…how does that sound?

That sounds like an original idea!

[Man in Space]

I should start the CT writing system. But to that end I have a question: Hieroglyphics or cuneiform? Maybe one then the other, the cuneiform being simplified hieroglyphs…how does that sound?

That sounds like an original idea!

I'm both looking forward to this and dreading it.

Quick note on CT: Might make a small Northern branch too with the dentals shifting to /x/.

--------

Because it's about time I tackle this: Täptäg.

I want to get to this:

/m m̥ n n̥ ɲ ɲ̊/
/p pʲ pʰ pʲʰ b bʲ b̥ b̥ʲ t tʲ tʰ tʲʰ d dʲ d̥ d̥ʲ c cʰ ɟ ɟ̊ k kʰ g g̊/
/s z ʃ ʒ/
/w j/

/u o ɑ æ e i/

Let's see if we can.

I just randomly came up with two word shapes I like: bhorgeat /b̥oɾɟɑt/ and geuha /ɟuɦɑ/. This in addition to Täptäg /tæptæg/ itself.

I think it'd be amusing if the original language was obligate CV, because I want to get clusters out of it.

m n
p b t d k kʷ g gʷ
s
ɹ

a ɛ e ɪ i ɔ o ʊ u

V → Ø / #_
s → h
i ɪ u ʊ → e ɛ o ɔ / a…_
V → Ø / V{r,m,n}_C
CVR → CʰV / _%
ɹ → n
i u e o → ɪ ʊ ɛ ɔ / _a
p b t d k g kʷ gʷ → ɸ β s ɾ x ɣ xʷ ɣʷ / V_{e,o,i,u}
ɛ ɔ ɪ ʊ → e o i u
Vowel affectation in stressed syllables
- i u → e o / when an a is in the following syllable
- a → æ if conditioned by front vowels, ɑ otherwise
- e…e i…i o…o u…u → depends on the stressed syllable but the outcomes for the stressed syllables are je ji jo ju
T K → Tʲ Ḱ / _{i,j}
{K,Ḱ}ʷ → P
[-vc]V[-vc] [+vc]V[+vc] → [-vc]V[+vc] [+vc]V[-vc] / _V#
Strong syncope: Every second syllable deletes
h → ɦ

I'll probably have to come up with some other changes later to make the spelling system work right…might have velars obligatorily palatalize before front vowels, just preserving the contrast in front of the back vowels? Might have the palatalized labials affricate instead like in Ryukyuan…

*buɹadigiatʊ → buɹdegɪatɔ → b̥uɾegɪatɔ → b̥uɾegiato → b̥uɾeɟato → b̥uɾeɟɑto → b̥uɾɟɑt → b̥oɾɟɑt bhorgjat
*gɪusua → giuhʊa → ɟuhoa → ɟuhoɑ → ɟuɦɑ gjuha
*tapɪtakɛ → tapitake → tæpitæke → tæpitæge → tæptæg Täptäg

So these changes as stated should give something like this:

/m m̥ n n̥ ɲ ɲ̊/ m mh n nh ñ ñh
/p pʰ b b̥ t tʲ tʰ tʲʰ d dʲ d̥ d̥ʲ c cʰ ɟ ɟ̊ k kʰ g g̊/ p ph b bh t tj th tjh d dj dh djh kj kjh gh gjh k kh g gh
/tʃ tʃʰ dʒ d̥ʒ/ č čh j jh
/s ʃ ɦ/ s š h
/ɾ ɾ̥/ r rh
/w j/ v j

/u o ɑ æ e i/ u o a ä e i

/d̥ʲɑngi/ djhangi
/estʲʰuɹi/ estjhuri
/mɑɲ̊æ/ mañhä
/n̥ostʰuɾɑ/ nhosthura
/dʒægɑɲ̊ɟɑn/ jägangjan

[Man in Space]

Timekeeping on Ítöð

The two most important ways of reckoning time on Ítöð are the way the Tim Ar do it and the way international diplomacy does it.

The Tim Ar

The Tim Ar reckon years using the Count of Yar Yereu (CYY). In this scheme, there's one special, independent day (Tékða m Hëkî Éakar ü) at the beginning of the year; otherwise, there are 28 nine-day weeks:

[more]Nðún
Kaskëman
Huhkëti m Höur
Maktáĝ
Ekolír
Łakłé
Këhírłé
Lagomür
Kélesłé
Këtrakimür
Geðre ĝ Ki
Ehsúnúk
N’éhsë
Ḫetl Hákl
Ḫetl Höl
Geðre n Gé
Torłé
Öshë Msaĝ
Nêkurułé
Íormür
Łékahál
Môh Łaĝë
Łagîl
Ḫrmagłé
Łénëð
Ïhköhnir
Ĝel Ïmûr
Łémrúk[/more]

(If you were wondering, these are split into six seasons: Kékhir, the spring melt; kmhéstag, sowing season; nturuḫ, growing season; ḫihtî, summer; gastolon, harvest; mhárê, autumn; and mháríe, winter. Each is four weeks long; however, dates are given with reference to the weeks they occur in, not the seasons.)

An extra day, Decades' Day (Tékða n Arikhëkî ar) is intercalated every ten years. There is a year zero; the first day of year zero corresponds to 18 October, 1342 AD.

Smaller-scale timekeeping follows a system called the March of Ndai Ndai:

1 agêr = 1/36 solar day = 43.53 minutes (this is split into three periods of 12 hours, namely A, B, and C; the day roughly starts at sunrise, which is about "6:00 AM")
1 ḫu = 1/48 agêr = 54.417 seconds
1 narihkihê = 1/60 ḫu = 0.907 seconds

So a full date and time might be 4B:42:30, 8 Öshë Msaĝ, 477 CYY.

Diplomacy

The way it's done in international diplomacy is a bit crazier. One way the other countries were able to fight the Tim Ar cultural hegemony was by convincing everyone to use the Red Death reckoning. This has the advantage of being tied to a global disaster, so it doesn't necessarily favor anyone over anyone else, but has the disadvantage of being completely batshit. Also, the Tim Ar names for the time divisions are the ones that got used anyway, not the original ones from whatever southern language this bastard system came from, so…Pyrrhic victory there. In-universe, no one's quite sure where this calendar came from other than somewhere in the southwest and that its zero year happened during the time the Red Death was starting to get really bad there.

In Red Death reckoning, there are three concurrent cycles, one using years as the units (the decadal cycle) and two using days (the short and long cycles). Each year in a decade has a name, and each day has a binomial designator that is a function of its position in the year vis-à-vis the short and long cycles. The Ítöðian year has about 253.1 days; the nearest integer is 253, which has a prime factorization of 11 · 23, which is the length of the short and long cycles respectively.

The decadal cycle, or arikrtûk, is as follows:

[more]Ĝatuolú
Méuétuále
Laki
Olsuókuóno
Tuétiáĝa
Iólisku
Takuéluí
Lútlú
Aklákéna
Émĝetuákué[/more]

It is the decadal that gets numbered; e.g., there is no year 500 RD, but there is a 50 Émĝetuákué RD.

It gets worse. The short cycle, këkéð kahál 'short week', is an eleven-day cycle:

[more]Lumulúána
Tuákuétele
Náĝuála
Ititle
Kuátlola
Luíkina
Enokuó
Maháalki
Listoloke
Iĝuántuáa
Mekilí[/more]

The long cycle, ĝênmansor, lasts twenty-three days:

[more]Hestekí
Koluóhua
Makuáli
Ekokuálo
Suítuáĝo
Kakaluógo
Malkeniá
Óiomalakué
Tuóntuéĝe
Muatuálki
Heleĝkuí
Milmeuána
Luúhuúski
Kéiolekolo
Mulusuáku
Hantakué
Úiluúsku
Uókiólalo
Mískuí
Hatalakuána
Héikuéma
Kékuólokí
Untúksiálkuí[/more]

The short and long cycles run concurrently, incrementing by one each day. The year starts out with both cycles in sync, so the first day of the year is Lumulúána Hestekí, the second is Tuákuétele Koluóhua, and so on. The twelfth day is Lumulúána Milmeuána; the first cycle has reset whilst the second is only about halfway through. Likewise, the twenty-fourth day is Tuákuétele Hestekí, as the second cycle has reset. This continues throughout the year until the last day of the year, Mekilí Untúksiálkuí.

After Émĝetuákué Mekilí Untúksiálkuí, a leap day (Téluána) is added. This is not considered to be part of any year or decade and serves as an end to the current decadal.

There is no year zero in Red Death reckoning, but there is a cycle zero. Cycle zero appears to have been tied to the infection and loss of a major population center; 0 Ĝatuolú Lumulúána Hestekí RD in Julian years corresponds to June 6, 812 AD. As in zompist's books, you can use negatives to refer to cycles prior to cycle zero: -15 Aklákéna Enokuó Mulusuáku RD, for instance.

Smaller-scale timekeeping is handled using the March of Ndai Ndai.

The Tlar Kyanà

The Tlar Kyanà want to be different, naturally, so usually they use the Count of Ô Bzyam (CÔB). The CÔB system divides the year into 50 weeks with five days in them, and these into 10 five-week months. Sharp-eyed readers might realize this is 255 days, not 253; the calendar eventually goes out of sync. This sucks, but then again so does just about everything with the Tlar Kyanà.

[more]
Ôaiay
Gzyǐn
Áiủ
Nẻn Mêakyȁ
Ủ Giòahn
Ōgǎr
Ngéanr
È Kảntlôa
Kyoaglỉ
Iâr Lǒhnéa
[/more]

Dates are written [month] [week]:[day], so È Kảntlôa 1:5, 255 CÔB. The Tlar Kyanà did not have the good sense to include a year zero. The first day of 1 CÔB in Julian reckoning was 1 December, 880 AD.

As if this wasn't bad enough, there are two smaller-scale timekeeping methods. In Muy Baon and Nguyna, they use the utterly ridiculous É Tuôy time:

1 gyỏ = 1/25 solar day = 62.688 minutes
1 ȍa = 1/4 gyỏ = 15.672 minutes
1 zyủyn = 1/6 ȍa = 2.612 minutes
1 tlāyná = 1/50 zyủyn = 3.1344 seconds
1 ǔl = 1/6 tlāyná = 0.5224 seconds

Whereas in Nikyuwar, they use the much more sane system of Bor Gyana:

1 bzyěahné = 1/25 solar day = 62.688 minutes
1 luôan = 1/50 bzyěahné = 75.2016 seconds
1 hủia = 1/50 luôan = 1.504 seconds

The Empire of the Violet Sun

Not to be outdone, the Empire of the Violet Sun uses Wekoq Reckoning (WR), which divides the year into 21 twelve-day weeks. There are seven months; an extra week is added to the fourth month every twelve years.

[more]
N̥omiˤ
Oˤqʰen
ʜwax
B̥uˤqlus
N̥oŋ̊aˤmda
Law
M̥iˤm̥iˤ
[/more]

Again, no one had the good sense to include a year zero. 1 N̥omiˤ, 1 WR is 11 September, 8 AD Julian.

Smaller-scale timekeeping is handled by Üsüm timekeeping:

1 matl = 1/18 solar day = 87.067 minutes
1 okulli = 1/36 matl = 145.111 seconds
1 lektlil = 1/72 okulli = 2.015 seconds

The Caber

The Caber sphere of influence uses the Count of Cagracala (CC) to reckon years. Here we have seven months of six six-day weeks; an extra day is tacked onto the end of the year every six years.

[more]
Camhir
Basci
Ưǧoac
Ćumep
Ter
Śaher
Biơc
[/more]

Again, no one had the good sense to include a year zero. Camhir 1, 1 CC is 14 February, 1232 BC Julian. Years before 1 CC are positive integers AC (ante Cagracalam), e.g. Biơc 10, 40 AC.

The Caber use the March of Ndai Ndai to measure smaller units of time.

The Mziddyun

The Mziddyun Sprachbund has, over time, grown sufficiently close that they use a unified method of timekeeping. The Gentian Way (GW) was developed by the Archaic Wokratak and includes eighteen months of fourteen days each, comprising two weeks of seven days:

[more]Dakąrą (rainstorms
Ġahit (~ ‘two’)
Siltales (blooming)
Ḅoḅñąkkę (migratory bird spp.)
Kokpąssę (of flamingos)
Takit (trading)
Oklasąhę (of dowries)
Katąl (plant sp.)
Pophąttę (‘of carrion birds’)
Ręwammę (‘of drive/belligerence’)
Nęsam (‘wanderlust’)
Sętam (~ ‘find a meaning’)
Kęrtąkkę (~ ‘command’)
Birak (‘sleeping-place’)
Sęrag (~ ‘turning black’)
Kihmahes (‘drying up’)
Ikkoliġ (starving)
Ondakro (immediate future jussive ‘may it rain’)[/more]

A bonus month, Ḅaḅaklǫk (~ 'it divides itself') is intercalated every 200 years.

Dates are written [month] [week]:[day], so Birak 2:4, 100 GW. Dakąrą 1:1, 1 GW was 4 May, 1653 BC. Every Ḅaḅaklǫk is numbered by itself, e.g. 1 Ḅaḅaklǫk 1:1 GW and not Ḅaḅaklǫk 1:1, 200 GW.

There is no year zero; however, there is a 0 Ḅaḅaklǫk—the first day of the first week of 0 Ḅaḅaklǫk was 20 April, 1653 BC. (I didn't pick that date. It was a consequence of selecting 4 May as my year-one start.)

Timekeeping on a smaller scale is accomplished using Sengin reckoning:

1 sogąt = 1/12 solar day = 2.1767 hours
1 koląt = 1/36 sogąt = 3.5 minutes
1 jalǫd = 1/36 koląt = 6 seconds
1 jogǫy = 1/6 jalǫd = 1 second

The Täptäg

The Täptäg have their own methods of counting time. Täptäg Fiscal Years divide the year into 51 five-day weeks; there are ten five-week months plus one week left over at the end of the year. An intercalary month is dumped in every 25 years.

[more]
Hottu
Tinža
Dall
Njäžžech
Urdme
Chjäggik
Hikhna
Mimdut
Sähanne
Gjann
[/more]

The year-ending week is Kujändanvjän. When present, the intercalary month Pjächluktal precedes Kujändanvjän.

Rendering a date is simple; it's [month/bonus-week] [date], [year]—Gjann 25, 100 TFY or Kujändanvjän 7, 100 TFY. A year zero is included free of charge; Hottu 1, 0 TFY in Julian reckoning was 7 April, 792 AD.

Täptäg consensus time operates as follows:

1 kjävel = 1/12 solar day = 2.1767 hours
1 bhogeoš = 1/8 kjävel = 979.515 seconds
1 mjävku = 1/12 bhogeoš = 81.6 seconds
1 keach = 1/120 mjävku = 0.68 seconds

Western Countries and Followers of the Bỏm Ikkeb

The Year of the Bỏm Ikkeb has its zero date on 8 October, 2266 BC. This is the date of birth of the Bỏm Ikkeb. There are two seasons, Ikeỏ and Muỏn, which each have three 42-day months (Tảlle, Danggan, and Sảngadj). (The last month of the year, the Sảngadj of Muỏn, receives an extra week every 36 years.

You write a date in this system using the scheme [season] [date] [month], so Ikeỏ 1 Tảlle, 0 YBI. Dates prior to year zero are written as positive integers BBI (e.g. Muỏn 40 Danggan, 20 BBI).

Weirdly enough, generally the system of Bor Gyana is used with the Year of the Bỏm Ikkeb, though the time units have different names in different languages.

The Patchwork States and Their Religious Institutions

The Year of St. Vengeance features seven months, each having four weeks, and each of those has nine days.

[more]Lūquor
Proceo
Nalquis
Ēnnedi
Tseho
Agānni
Dēreo[/more]

It's a lunar calendar and it gradually goes out of sync with the rest of time. As if that weren't enough, there's no year zero. I Lūquor, 1 YV was 19 June, 1997 BC Julian. Dates prior to year one are written as positive integers BV ("before Vengeance").

The Year of St. Vengeance uses an archaic Tim Ar timekeeping system—itself inherited from the Classical Kyaha—for smaller units.

1 agār (< CT agêr < CK aġyul) = 1/40 solar day = 0.653 hours
1 murī (< CT musíh < CK musih) = 1/10 agār = 235 seconds
1 cēlcen (< CT kélikan < CK qeylikay) = 1/10 murī = 23.5 seconds
1 haqua (< CT ḫakua < CK qakkua) = 1/10 cēlcen = 2.35 seconds

Southern Countries

Southern countries tend to use Red Death reckoning for the dates. This, of course, gets even worse. In southern countries, there's an alternate system for counting hours, minutes, seconds, &c., the system of Batracchuî. Both the Tim Ar and native names for the time units are given below:

1 léoł (leoche) = 1/24 solar day = 65.3 minutes
1 múin (mûgne) = 1/24 léoł = 2.721 minutes
1 niúor (gnuor) = 1/24 mûgne = 6.802 seconds
1 ił (îzhe) = 1/6 gnuor = 1.134 seconds

[Khemehekis]

Fascinating! Have any of these people developed a system of astrology, either based on the year you were born, like the Chinese, or the month you were born, like the Greeks/Romans, or the day of the month you were born, like the Povoians?

[Man in Space]

Fascinating! Have any of these people developed a system of astrology, either based on the year you were born, like the Chinese, or the month you were born, like the Greeks/Romans, or the day of the month you were born, like the Povoians?

Presumably, but I don't have any of it worked out yet. I need to see what the sky looks like from Xi Boötis.

----

"Time is sight, gravity is desire", the Stellaris quote, in CT cuneiform:



----

As any good empire worth its salt, the organization of the Tim Ar Empire is a positively byzantine network of administrative divisions and different, somewhat-overlapping classifications thereof. I've spoken before of how there exist side branches to the normal empire - viceroyalty - namestnichestvo - oblast - raion - selsoviet - city - borough division, namely the free cities and the suzerainties. Well, bring your chainsaws. It gets worse.

In the Empire there are four types of free cities (ákmr ḫér): There are the castellanies, the imperial cities, the marches, and the palatinates. Administratively, they're considered equal in hierarchy to, though smaller than, the oblast.

Imperial cities are the easiest to pin down: They both do the heavy lifting in terms of politics. There are two, namely the capital, Ákmrkámr, and the UN-type-city Ítöðkámr.

A castellany is distinguished from a palatinate in that the former was originally garrisoned or militarily-oriented whereas the latter was generally dependent on its original state for defense—that is to say, castellanies had more autonomy than did palatinates. Cannelon (Kánelon), Dungming (Tuĝmiĝ), Ker Ulu, Leḫéu, Mol Ór, and Nam Náĝ are castellanies; Êhserís, Hütoókhón, Ḫéehalanié, Itseér, Iłnéethéhmia, Kéentak, and Tekhënláan are palatinates.

The march is a third class entirely, which designation being exclusively reserved to city-states of Täptäg origin. There are eight of them; only one of them, Kiáir, has a name as of current.

There are also multiple types of suzerainties: There are three banners, one condominium, one dependency, one duchy, two republics, and four satrapies. Suzerainties are hierarchically on par with the namestnichestvo; they answer to the appropriate viceroy.

The trio of banners (Kal Iháni, Linömaár, and Łolsóĝ) were originally military governments or governorates that were absorbed into the Empire.

The Condominium of the Täptäg Principality is a largely autonomous country. They even handle some of their own foreign affairs, though of course the Tim Ar don't give them too long a leash.

The sole dependency, that of Mitał Kío, is an exclave that wanted into the Empire for reasons of national security. They saw how effectively administration by the Tim Ar went for Lesser Xiaoxiao and figured it would put them on a good footing, though how beneficial the deal that brought them into the Tim Ar fold was is a matter of some debate.

There is also one duchy, Deverris (Teherís). How Deverris, formerly a kingdom about the size of Iraq, got subsumed was kind of a lesser-of-two-evils sort of situation, and unlike the Täptäg, the Deverreans didn't have much to hold in the way of bargaining chips. However, as they surrendered their fully sovereignty of their own accord instead of getting invaded (or feeling such a threat), they enjoy a large deal of autonomy within the Empire (the fact that it's a duchy and not a satrapy is relevant here).

There are two republics, Regon and Tétomoto, distinguished from most of the other entries on the list by dint of not having monarchs and being more purely representational in governance. These two entities are on opposite sides of the supercontinent.

Then we have the satrapies— Atluténðén, Łauëłáu Êhsé, Tesineki, and Rïnmír. These are monarchies with a very short chain—said chain does have elements of legitimacy, however much it can be said that the Empire proper pulls the strings—and they are known for stunning amounts of internal corruption. This same autonomy is the justification by which the Tim Ar leave the satraps in power, considering the corruption to be "matters internal to the satrapy". (Łauëłáu Êhsé actually joined for similar reasons to Mitał Kío, but the power they and the Tim Ar were hoping to keep in check had more import than did the enemies Mitał Kío was worried about, so they got a better deal for integration.)

--------

The Castellany of Dungming is a free city within the Viceroyalty of Greater Kélekeð, specifically in the namestnichestvo of Mehkenihránes (specifically specifically, it's located in the oblast of Éu Te). Dungming is known for its textiles and certain culinary exports—it's an absolute must for gastronomically-inclined tourists.

[Creyeditor]

The cuneiform looks cool. Was it inspired by qny particular script? Ugaritic, maybe?