Talk like an Animal: Beastlanguage
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| arikina | life-friend |
| deserntak | mortal-offspring |
| gaeireh | self-discovery |
| jakishta | blood-feud |
| khirau | beast-offspring |
| outsider | non-Beastlander |
| seyhrain | animal-lord |
| shakista | silent-feud |
| tyekre | forbidden |
| ulraehn | dark-seed |
Beastlanguage, the (unnamed) primal tongue of the Beastlands’ sentient creatures, thrives on its simplicity and adaptability. It distills communication to universal concepts through a minimalist framework. With fewer than 150 root syllable-sounds, speakers combine terms creatively—moon-howl might signal nighttime hunting, while river-snarl warns of polluted waters, and strange-liquid means alcohol. Context rules supreme: a bear’s guttural root-earth could describe digging for tubers or its ancestral burial grounds, depending on paw gestures and scent markers.
The phonetics embrace biological diversity—vocalizations range from avian trills to ursine growls, all adhering to a core set of 12 consonants and 5 vowels. A squirrel’s chittered krr-chk (swift-climb) carries the same meaning as a wolf’s elongated kraaaaaak. This acoustic flexibility stems from the Beastlands’ magical essence, which I believe harmonizes disparate timbres into shared bestial understanding. These limited phoneme sounds prioritise clarity over complexity, enabling cross-species packs to coordinate concepts or instructions with minimal confusion.
Beastlanguage grammar follows instinctual patterns rather than rigid rules. A typical statement flows subject-action-target: pack (we) chase elk. Modifiers attach directly—bright-fang might mean a sharp tooth or metaphorically describe a cunning leader. Questions invert this structure (elk chase pack?), while commands omit the subject entirely (run silent). Tail flicks and ear positions can be used to handle grammatical roles.
Cultural context shapes every utterance. Hunters might compress river-cross-deer-track into a single nasal grunt during pursuit. The language evolves rapidly, with new term combinations emerging from environmental shifts—for example a recent blight on Krigala’s sequoias birthed the concept sun-tree-ache to describe diseased bark. Unlike mortal tongues, Beastlanguage resists written form; scent trails, piles of arranges twigs and claw-etched pictograms serve as its “texts.” This fluidity reflects the plane’s ever-changing nature, where even language remains prey to nature’s whims.
Unique Beastlander Words
By their nature, the seyhrain do not dabble much in politics, for this is not the Way of the Beastlands. However, the Animal Lords have developed a system of terms that might seem obscure to Outsiders, but the mere declaration of one of these terms constitutes a major event on the Beastlands. The concepts of jakishta, shakista and arikina were codified by the Owl Lord shortly after the War of the Avians on the Beastlands, back after the single Bird Lord split into the dozens of Bird Lords that now exist today.
Political oaths are not issued lightly, and usually indicate that fate of an Animal Lord’s species hangs in the balance. While the stories of the Animal Lords may refer to many examples of such declarations, it’s important to remember that these stories are separated by hundreds of years. Immortal animals have long memories and what passes for politics on the Beastlands moves slowly. Finally, while Beastland politics are of great significance to the lives of the beasts of the Beastlands, their impact on the Cage and the rest of the Planes is minimal, if even noticed at all.
—by Syllabica Malhorendi, Experimental Language Department, Fraternity of Order
Arikina
The declaration of arikina (arrie-KEEN-a) goes as much against the nature of the Beastlands as the jakishta, although it is not as feared as the blood feud. Arikina, or “life friend,” is more commonly used on the Beastlands, and the results of it always appear confusing to Outsiders. The declaration of arikina implies that two animals that had previously hunted each other for food will now instead work together in order to achieve a common goal. By their nature, arikina are short-lived; it’s unlikely that the Cat Lord would work with the Hawk Lord any longer than either of the two needed to. It’s a declaration made out of necessity for both races; the largest arikina was issued against the ulraehn, where almost every Animal Lord of the Beastlands banded together to protect themselves from the danger of the wolves. The most recent arikina was sworn just a few years ago between the Elephant Lord and the Cat Lord, in which Cat agreed to hunt down members of the Vile Hunt who were threatening Elephat’s wards in return for an unspecified favour. What the Cat Lord would want from the Elephant Lord is dark, but it can be sure that the Cat Lord wouldn’t defy the nature of the Beastlands for a simple request. Arikina rarely lasts for longer than necessary; usually it expires within a few years of having been issued.
Deserntak
In an extremely rare occurrence, an Animal Lord will mate with a mortal, usually a druid or another mortal in touch with the nature of the Beastlands. These offspring are called deserntak, or mortal-offspring-lord, by the residents of the Beastlands. More on deserntak here [coming soon].
Gaeireh
The declaration of gaeireh (gay-IRRA), “self discovery,” indicates an Animal Lord is withdrawing into their realm to contemplate their existence on the Beastlands. This is a solitary declaration; the petitioners of their Animal Lord merely turn to the Animal Lord’s head warden beast for guidance. The Animal Lord, once having declared gaeireh heads away from their charges into the deepest and darkest areas of the Beastlands in order to commune with their plane for guidance or introspection. The Owl Lord frequently declares gaeireh when he needs to think without disruption, allowing the Mouse Lord to breathe a large squeak of relief. The process of gaeireh can take anywhere from a month to several years; sometimes, an Animal Lord will never return. The promise of enlightenment comes with risks.
Jakishta
Occasionally two Animal Lords will wage jakishta (jack-ISH-ta) the equivalent of war upon each other. While this may look no different to the Outsiders of the Beastlands, it means much to the animals of the Beastlands, since it affects them directly. The very statement of war means going against the Way of the Beastlands, so it is not issued lightly. On the Beastlands, what mortals refer to as “war” is referred to as jakishta, or “blood feud”. Jakishta does not only apply to wars between the Animal Lords; it more often refers to circumstances when an Animal Lord has forced their wards to go against their basic nature in a way that may be construed of as “evil.” However, jakishta is only declared as a “war” measure when one Animal Lord has done something totally antithetical to the entire nature of another.
Now this wouldn’t include the slaying of the Cat Lord’s favorite panther. Such things are the way of the Beastlands, and life and death are taken in stride. Rather, jakishta might be declared after one Animal Lord has done something completely against the nature of the Beastlands, such as the wanton and brutal slaying of those that live in harmony with nature. The last jakishta remembered on the Beastlands was between the first Wolf Lord and the Dog Lord, caused partially because of Dog’s intense hatred of Wolf. The Wolf Lord apparently had killed a pack of dogs, disemboweled them, and dragged the bloody organs to the feet of the Dog Lord and proceeded to begin to “play” with them. This was all the Dog Lord needed to declare jakishta, and the Dog Lord ordered his packs of scavengers to relentlessly pursue the wolves of the Beastlands with the intent to kill and return the same indignity that was shown to them. The result of his edict was not favourable. The Dog Lord’s power was diminished as Wolf’s grew, because the jackals and dingoes of the Dog Lord were no match for the howling minions of the Wolf Lord. The Dog Lord became diminished and has since lost a considerable portion of his power and influence. Of course, the first Wolf Lord met his fate at the fangs and claws of his own minions some time after that, but it did nothing to help to Dog Lord regain his previous title. It is for this reason that a jakishta is rarely issued among the Animal Lords of the Beastlands; the gains are little compared with the risks. Recently, tensions have been climbing between more than one Animal Lord and the Cat Lord. Some are afraid that a jakishta will be called against the Cat Lord for her arrogant behaviour concerning Bast. However, a jakishta seems unlikely, for the Cat Lord is one of the most powerful of the Animal Lords and is an integral part of the cycle of the Beastlands. Also, no Animal Lord seems willing to risk their own position for a relatively meaningless jakishta; they figure that the Cat Lord will either give up or be taught a worthwhile lesson by the Egyptian power, in her own time.
Khirau
Far more common than deserntak are the khirau, the offspring of an Animal Lord and a member of that Animal Lord’s species. The khirau are literally thick on the Beastlands; many are the offspring that an Animal Lord has sired. The khirau are respected by the animals of the Beastlands as the deserntak are, but they fit in better because of their obvious animal nature. The khirau typically serve as hunters, messengers, and scouts for their parents. [They have maximum hit points per hit dice and on general do an extra die of damage with their attacks. For example, a tiger son of the Cat Lord would have 45 hit points and do 2d4+1 damage with each claw and 2d10 damage with their bite.] Most Outsiders wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a khirau and a normal animal, only perhaps observing the khirau to be larger than average.
Seyhrain
Seyrhain (SAY-rain) means “beast lord,” in Beastlanguage. It is used most often by Animal Lords in reference to other Animal Lords.
Shakista
Like the jakishta, a shakista (shack-ISH-ta) is a response to an action that has displeased an Animal Lord. However, where the jakishta implies open war against another of the seyhrain, shakista, meaning “silent feud” is a public shunning of another Animal Lord. All the Warden Beasts, followers, and petitioners of a particular species is warned will not associate with the marked Animal Lord. Usually, a shakista is declared by more than one seyhrain at once, as a show of united disapproval. The declaration of shakista was more common in the past, because the offending party may just shrug things off and ignore them. It used to be used more frequently before it was declared against the ulraehn (meaning “dark seed”; Animal Lords are generally not named)—the first Wolf Lord—by every Animal Lord of the Beastlands. The ulraehn gutted the messenger (a hawk) and then wore its corpse around his neck for a month as a sign of how little he was worried. The ulraehn didn’t care whether the rest of the Beastlands talked to him or not, only that they feared him. Since then, the seyhrain have taken to being more direct and less political in their dealings with each other.
Tyekre
Spoken in the most hushed of voices are the tyekre (tie-KREE), the result of the offspring of an Animal Lord and a member of another animal species other than their patron species. Such an act is against the Way of the Beastlands, and every Animal Lord knows it.
Ulraehn
Ulraehn (ULL-rain) means “dark seed”, and is the term used to describe the first Wolf Lord of the Beastlands, who was a downright wicked creature that ended up causing many of the existing Animal Lords to be slain and replaced. His very nature was against the Way of the Beastlands, and he met his end at the claws of his own pack of wolves.
Source: Dave King aka Heregul, Jon Winter-Holt. Canonwatch: Beastlanguage is based on Toki Pona, which is a real-world constructed language (conlang) which rather than requiring a huge vocabulary, uses 140 simple words and a limited number of letters in different combinations to create meaning. Everything else here is homebrew.
