Extraplanar Languages [3.5, but really applies to any D&D]

[Fortuna]

I know that there's Celestial, Abyssal, and Infernal, not to mention Auran, Terran, Aquan, and Ignan, but I want more. I would like help with naming a language for each of the alignments.

[Yuki Akuma]

Easy:

Eladrin - Chaotic Good
Celestial - Neutral Good
Archonic - Lawful Good
Slaadi - Chaotic Neutral
Rilmanic - True Neutral
Modronic - Lawful Neutral
Abyssal - Chaotic Evil
Daemonic - Neutral Evil
Infernal - Lawful Evil

Alternative names:
Tanar'ri (Chaotic Evil), Baatezu (Lawful Evil), Yugothic (Neutral Evil), Guardinal (Neutral Good), Angelic (Neutral Good), Outlandish* (Neutral)


* Because it's funny.

[Fortuna]

That looks good, thanks. Now I just need a way to get my cleric enough skill points to learn them all...

[Haven]

Easy:

Eladrin - Chaotic Good
Celestial - Neutral Good
Archonic - Lawful Good
Slaadi - Chaotic Neutral
Modronic - Lawful Neutral
Abyssal - Chaotic Evil
Daemonic/Yugothic - Neutral Evil
Infernal - Lawful Evil

And Rilmanic for true neutral.

Hm, actually, based on the lower-planar ones it seems to be more regional than racial. So maybe Arborean for CG, Elysian for NG, Celestial (Celestian?) for LG, errm--Mechanese for LN, and Outlandish for TN.

[Fortuna]

Rilmanic? I'm afraid I don't get the reference.

[Bibliomancer]

Do you want them to correspond to the planes or the alignments, because if the latter you could use the names from 2nd edition (I believe there were secret languages corresponding to the alignments). Also, are they secret languages (ie, can only be learned by creatures with that alignment) or open languages, like Celestial and Infernal.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Infernal, Abyssal, and Celestial are the most common because they are the common language of the 3 major planar groups groups: the devils, the demons, and the angels. Due to the dominance of these three groups and the need for a Lingua Franca, they have become very common. Are you attempting to create dialects (sub-branches of the same language, like accents but with structural differences) or actual languages. If you wanted the latter, they probably wouldn't apply to a single plane, since a language that got that big would compete with C, I, and A. Other planar languages would probably be race or region specific (remember all the planes are infinite, so there's a lot more to Arborea than the domains of the Elven gods, that's just the main region that Material Plane adventurers visit.

Conceivably, in the standard cosmology alternate cosmologies are simply remote corners of the existing planes. For example, in Eberron, Thelanis is a corner of Arborea, Shavarath is a layer of the Abyss that is a Blood War battleground, and Fernia is a cooler region of the Plane of Fire. However, these regions would be so far removed from the normal cosmology that there denizens don't know about the other planes, thus making all the residents of that setting think that there is no way to reach other settings.

[Haven]

Rilmanic? I'm afraid I don't get the reference.

In Planescape, Rilmani are the True Neutral outsiders.

[Yuki Akuma]

Rilmani are to the Outlands as Slaadi are to Limbo. They're the True Neutral Exemplars.

Edit: Having racial languages and regional languages as separate also works. But that might be too many languages.

I still think Outlandish is a great name for a language though.

[Myrmex]

Rilmani are to the Outlands as Slaadi are to Limbo. They're the True Neutral Exemplars.

Do they just sit around not doing anything or do they eat a baby then help tend old ladies across the road?

[Fortuna]

Thanks for all the help. I want actual languages, as in this setting the Lingua Franca is going to be a specifically devised language for that purpose, artificially crafted to make it ideal for the purpose. In each plane there will be a language which is open, but rarely spoken. Since I am using this language system, with a couple of additions of my own (basically, I am including rules for ancient forms of languages). The goal is to have a planar polyglot character, who will always know the right language for the task. This will obviously be cooler if I have more languages, although it will also be harder to pull off.

[Yuki Akuma]

Do they just sit around not doing anything or do they eat a baby then help tend old ladies across the road?

They maintain the Balance.

Whatever that means.

They're also expert crafters.

I would not be surprised if in older editions they worked closely with Druids, although as they don't need to be True Neutral anymore that's probably not true now.

[Haven]

I still think Outlandish is a great name for a language though.

xD Indeed. (Judging by edit histories we apparently had that same thought at the same time O.o )

Do they just sit around not doing anything or do they eat a baby then help tend old ladies across the road?

I don't know, but my gut tells me "maybe".

[AslanCross]

Cloistered Cleric gets more skill points and gets Speak Language as a skill, if you need to find a way to get all those languages. Also keep in mind that the cleric gets Celestial, Abyssal and Infernal as bonus languages to begin with.

[Fortuna]

Awesome. With this setting change, I may alter that to "any two Outer Planes tongues, as well as whatever I decide to name the lingua franca." Then I just need 6*5+3*3=39 skill points. Rats.

[Ormur]

Do they just sit around not doing anything or do they eat a baby then help tend old ladies across the road?

If I die, tell my wife I said... Hello.

[bosssmiley]

They maintain the Balance.

Whatever that means.

Balancing Monks

[Eldan]

One thing I did, though it's not really official, is include several trade languages:

Celestial is the language all good outsiders are expected to speak. However, they still speak Archonic, Aasimon, Eladrina, Guardinal, Asura and so on.
Chaotic outsiders often speak Anarchic, in addition to Eladrina, Abyssal, Slaadish and whatever else. It should be noted, however, that Anarchic is very complicated to learn, because it has basically no rules and changes depending on the users mood.
The language of lawful outsiders is Axiom, the language of pure logic. There is also Modron, which resembles programming languages, Archonic and Infernal.
The high language of the lower planes is fiendish, a simplified version of the Yugoloth language. Of course, there is, once again, also the aforementioned nameless Yugoloth language, Infernal and Abyssal.
Finally, people in Sigil speak Planar Trade, which is a simple pidgin of Outlandish, (the Rilmani language) and Prime Common.

However, as any true planewalker knows, the inner planes are full of backring elemental hilly-billies, who only fight each other all the time and could never agree on one sensible language. That's why no one ever bothers going there.

[Yuki Akuma]

I want to run a Planescape campaign just so I can us "Outlandish" to describe Outlands nationality.

[Optimystik]

And Rilmanic for true neutral.

Hm, actually, based on the lower-planar ones it seems to be more regional than racial. So maybe Arborean for CG, Elysian for NG, Celestial (Celestian?) for LG, errm--Mechanese for LN, and Outlandish for TN.

Beat me to it. They should be region-based rather than racial.

[Reinboom]

It seems rather silly to me to let Slaadi have a structured language that no more than a small collective, at best, of Slaadi would know. That is to say, every give collective would speak something completely different.

[Eldan]

That's what I meant by Anarchic being stupidly difficult: Slaadi understand it. However, every Slaad speaks it in a different fashion, with almost no discernible common elements between them. They also speak it differently at different times, places and in different moods.

[Fishy]

I don't really Giant Frog what you Giant Frog is so Giant Frog about Giant Frog.