Dictionaries?

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From: MOBTOTRM@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au
Date: Sun 03 Apr 1994 - 14:21:50 EEST


G'day Everyone,

To take your minds off the RQAiG fiasco, here's a very old, slightly silly article I dredged out of my files:

The Nochet Lhankor Mhy Library Collection

Listed below are some of the dictionaries in the Nochet library collection. Sadly, many are now incomplete - factional hoarding, decay and of course the disastrous fire of 1618 have all contributed to their current shabby state.

Dictionaries may consulted by members of the Lhankor Mhy or Irrippi Ontor cults free of charge, though this does not mean that the particular work sought will be available when required! Outsiders will either have to pay a sage the usual research costs, or may consult the dictionary requested in the reading room at a base rate of 2 s. per hour.

Anias, the deputy chief librarian and head of the Exclusivist Faction makes a critical comment about each work.

  1. OLD PAVIC LEXICON Main Language: Pavic Part Extant: All Benefit: Read Old Pavic at 1/2 Read Pavic Author: Anias Anias's Comment: This is an excellent and definitive work, worthy of my scholarly brilliance.
  2. AN ESROLIAN-SARTARITE DICTIONARY Main Language: Esrolian Part Extant: All Benefit: Read Esrolian at 1/4 Sartarite and vice versa Author: Anias Anias's Comment: Still unsurpassed, it is a must for any would-be heroquester looking to organize a temple in Sartar.
  3. THE ESSENCE OF MODERN MOSTALI Main Language: Esrolian Part Extant: All Benefit: Read Esrolian Author: Anias Anias's Comment: A quick browse is more stimulating than "Erotocomatose Lucidity".
  4. THEYALAN IDIOM Main Language: Esrolian Part Extant: Vol.3 missing Benefit: Read other Theyalan dialects at 1/3 skill in own. Author: Anias and others Anias's Comment: A disappointment.
  5. FIRESPEECH CODEX Main Language: Dara Happan Part Extant: J-N Benefit: +15% Read Dara Happan; +05% Yelm Cult Lore Author: Pious Goldbreath Anias's Comment: A massive and pompous tome, compiled before the advent of organized documentation and mostly incomplete, with a tendency to stray from the subject; yet grammatically sound.
  6. SURVEY OF THE WESTERN TONG UES Main Language: Esrolian Part Extant: "Vadeli" vol. lost Benefit: +25% Read Brithini; +15% most other Western Languages. Author: Vasil of Brithos Anias's Comment: This work begins with a fallacy (that the written languages of the West predate Brithos) and ends with an untruth (that, as a logical consequence of the author's argument, sorcerous magic is at its most potent when uttered in the Brithini tongue.)
  7. THE RED EMPEROR'S NEW PELORIAN Main Language: New Pelorian Part Extant: All BENEFIT: +20% Read New Pelorian. Author: Imperial University of Glamour Anias's Comment: A bold attempt to standardize speech across the Empire, this work is now in urgent need of revision.
  8. FROM SARTARITE TO NEW PELORIAN: A GUIDEBOOK FOR THE NEOPHYTE Main Language: Sartarite/New Pelorian Part Extant: All Benefit: +25% Read, Write and Speak New Pelorian; +05% Seven Mothers Cult Lore. Author: Sacred Consistory of the Provincial Church Anias's Comment: A valuable aid, once one sifts out the propaganda
  9. GREETNGS OF THE PELORIAN LOWLANDS Main Language: Tradetalk? Part Extant: All Benefit: Say "Hello" in the various dialects of Peloria Author: Unknown Anias's Comment: Obviously pitched at traders, this work is excellent within its narrowly defined limits.
  10. CARMANIAN AS SHE IS SPOKE Main Language: Dara Happan Part Extant: A-Q,V,Y-Z Benefit: Read Carmanian at 1/3 Read Dara Happan. Author: Paulis Longvale Anias's Comment: Vapid and prolix.
  11. ESROLIAN PRONOUNCIATION GUIDE Main language: New Pelorian Part Extant: A, L, P-Z Benefit: +30% Speak Esrolian Author: Eudoxus of Nochet, priest of this temple Anias's Comment: Uninspired foppism.
  12. SARTARITE COMMON USEAGE Main Language: Sartarite Part Extant: Bat - Revolt Benefit: read Sartarite +25% Author: Claymore Stormsong, associate sage of this temple. Anias's Comment: A guttural piece of unscholarly writing, it is a subversive pamphlet without redeeming literary value.
  13. HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN NAME Main Language: Tradetalk? Part Extant: All Benefit: +75% Write Own Name. Author: Grey Sage Quintus Namdarian (head of the "Free Educationist" faction) Anias's Comment: A waste of good parchment.
  14. BEASTSPEECH Main Language: Tradetalk? Part Extant: Owhh-Ughh Benefit: +30% Speak Baboon. Author: Sword Savant Rastus Pinkeye, late of this temple. Anias's Comment: An unnecessary attempt to understand and imitate the barbarous shrieks of the Baboons; rightly banned ever since a junior acolyte mispronounced a phrase and accidentally summoned a malignant baboon ancestor-spirit.
  15. ALCHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE MADE EASY Main Language: Pavic Part Extant: Vol.2 Benefit: May be poisoned by Black Fang Author: Phlogiston, master of natural philosophy at this temple. Anias's Comment: Adequate.
  16. THE 10000 PICTOGRAMS OF VAYOBI Main Language: Esrolian Part Extant: 813 Benefit: +05% Read Kralorelan; +25% Kralorelan Calligraphy. Author: Thredbo the Wild Sage, once of this temple, currently on his travels. Anias's Comment: Technically and pedagogically brilliant, but of little practical use.
  17. THE SIBLIANT TONGUE OF OUROBOROS Main language: Auld Wyrmish Part Extant: Dip-Yaah Benefit: +10% Read Auld Wyrmish, if at least 11% is known. Author: Procopius, Temple Procurer Anias's Comment: Of interest only to pedants.
  18. PAVIC FOR THE PRAXIAN ANIMAL NOMAD Language: Praxian (knots)/Pavic Part Extant: All Benefit: Speak Pavic at 1/3 Read Praxian knots. Author: Karin Kareetha, initiate of this temple. Anias's Comment: A valiant but inevitably futile attempt to educate ignorant savages in the ways of civilized speech.
  19. MY DARKTONGUE DICTIONARY Language: Esrolian Part Extant: All Benefit: Read Darktongue +30%. Author: Theodopulos Pandarus, Temple Collator. Anias's Comment: Mediocre
  20. DARKTONGUE ENLIGHTENED Language: Esrolian Part Extant: Fire damaged Benefit: Read Darktongue +15%. Author: Capybarus the Thinker, recently joined the Exclusivist faction. Anias's Comment: A contemporary masterpiece that excels in clarity and completeness. Highly acclaimed.

By Michael O'Brien - input from Trevor Ackerly

hey, know of any more dictionaries hidden away in the various factional hoards?

MOB

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