Quote Originally Posted by Doug Lampert View Post
A language need not be verbal.
IMO, this is the key part with Proteans. They're unbridled shapeshifters, right?If two (or more) are trying to communicate, it would almost be a surprise if it was a spoken language because at any given moment one or both might not even have a mouth, capable of making a particular sound. And if two Proteans were from different areas they might not even have commonality in the types of creatures they had encountered and thus would be likely to shift into.

More likely, they'd communicate *via* their shapeshifting. Which is a little weird, but its their defining characteristic and something all of them share at all times. I'd be surprised if their communication *didn't* involve a particular cadence of shape changes or taking on particular kinds of forms. As far as I know, there's no specific description of how it works, but you'd could see how something like turning into 3 different creatures and then 2 a half -second later, followed by something round after a 2 second pause might convey meaning.

If you just sat and watched them for a while you could probably figure out they were communicating in some fashion, but if it was the middle of a fight or a very brief interchange between the proteans you might not even realize it.