NOMAD Stellar Alliance: Languages

Frank Mitchell

Posted: 2024-08-02
Last Modified: 2024-08-03
Word Count: 931
Tags: ftl-nomad language rpg

WARNING: This is a WORK IN PROGRESS. See the enclosing directory for more about NOMAD Stellar Alliance.

Part of the NOMAD: Stellar Alliance series.

Starting Languages

The player maintains two lists for their character:

  1. Known Languages, i.e. languages the character knows.
  2. Unknown Languages, i.e. languages the character definitely doesn’t know.

Every character adds Alliance Standard to their list of Known Languages along with one other language reflecting their culture, ancestry, or species. The character also knows how to read and write the written form of each language, called a Script.

Speaking and Learning Languages

(See also Langage Groups and The ‘Understand Language’ Test.)

When a character encounters an unfamiliar language they make a throw against Social to see if they picked it up in their travels. Choose the one most favorable modifier that applies:

Situation Modifier
Full Immersion in the language for 6 months +2D
Full Immersion in the language for 3 months +1D
Language is in the same Group as one of the character’s languages +1D
Language is Common +0D
Language is Uncommon -1D
Language is Rare -2D
Language is Very Rare -3D
Language is Extinct -4D

If the throw succeeds, the player adds the language to the character’s list of Known Languages. If the throw fails, the player adds the language to the character’s list of Unknown Languages. When the player gains an Experience Rank, they may clear their list of Unknown Languages and start over.

Reading and Learning Scripts

(See also Written Languages.)

If a character knows a Language, they also know all the Scripts for the language unless they’re not a native speaker (i.e. it’s not one of their starting languages) and the Script is listed separately in the language tables below. In this latter case, the player throws Social or Knowledge to have learned the Script, with the same modifiers.

Language Lists

These lists may change over time.

Earth Languages

Note: Rarity reflects popularity by the 26th century …

Language Rarity Group(s) Script(s)
Alliance Standard Common Anglic1 Neo-Shavian
Arabic, Centaurian Uncommon Arabic Arabic
Arabic, Classical Uncommon Arabic Arabic
Arabic, Solar Standard2 Uncommon Arabic Arabic
Chinese, Cantonese Uncommon Chinese Mandarin Chinese (written)
Chinese, Mandarin (spoken) Uncommon Chinese Mandarin Chinese (written), Bopomofo
Chinese, Mandarin (written) Uncommon CJK -
Danish Rare North Germanic Roman
Dutch Rare West Germanic Roman
English, New Standard3 Uncommon Anglic Roman
English, Spacer Uncommon Anglic, Chinese Roman
Esperanto, Classic Very Rare Esperanto Roman
Esperanto, Martian Uncommon Esperanto Roman
Farsi Rare Iranian Arabic, Cyrillic
French Uncommon Romance Roman
German Uncommon West Germanic Roman
Hebrew, Modern Rare Northwest Semitic Hebrew
Hindi Uncommon Hindustani Devanagari
Japanese (spoken) Uncommon Japonic Japanese (Kana, Kanji), Roman
Japanese (written, Kanji) Uncommon CJK -
Klingon Very Rare - Roman, pIqaD
Latin Very Rare Latin, Romance Roman
Navajo Very Rare - Roman
Norwegian Rare North Germanic Roman
Portuguese, Brazilian Uncommon Romance Roman
Romani Very Rare Western Indo-Aryan Roman
Romanian Rare Romance Roman
Russian Uncommon East Slavic Cyrillic
Scots Rare Anglic Roman
Spanish, Latin American4 Uncommon Romance Roman
Swedish Rare North Germanic Roman
Turkish Rare Oghuz Roman
Urdu Uncommon Hindustani Devanagari

Extra-Terrestrial Languages

Language Rarity Group(s) Script(s)
Ægirian Uncommon Minervan Minervan
Algolian Uncommon - Algolian
Cetani Rare Grey Roman, Neo-Shavian
Draconian, Common Speech Rare5 Draconian Lighashkhor6
Draconian, Noble Speech Rare7 Draconian Quugh
Draconian, Warrior Speech Uncommon Draconian Quugh, Lighashkhor6
First Ones’ Piping8 Very Rare - First Ones’ Writing
First Ones’ Writing Very Rare9 - -
Jhi-tel Rare Grey Fenar
Minervan Standard Uncommon Minervan Minervan
Nommoic Standard Rare - Nommoic
Pah-Kal, Alliance Uncommon Pah-Kal Chul-Sha-Vah10, Chul-Ta-Ko
Pah-Kal, Spacer Uncommon Pah-Kal Chul-Ta-Ko
Qutan-tel Rare Grey Fenar
Quugh (Draconian logograms) Rare11 Draconian -
Rephaitic, Classical Very Rare Rephaitic Rephaitic
Rephaitic, Phaëthonic Rare Rephaitic Rephaitic
Rephaitic, Provincial Uncommon Rephaitic Rephaitic
Tsi-tel Rare Grey Fenar
Xetan-tel Rare Grey Fenar
other alien languages Very Rare varies varies

Author’s Note

Why are the language rules different from Confederation Space?

The Alliance is much more of a polyglot setting than the Confederation. Changed versions of Earth’s languages migrated to the stars. Every alien species has its own native language. NURTTS12 software can only do so much. Compare to the Confederation, where a single government and a single language held sway for so long, to the point where nearly all competing languages vanished.

Plus I just wanted to test out variations of the same rules: the original Understand Languages Check vs. simplified rules where characters have to sit down and learn languages for them to stick.

  1. A creole of English, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, and other languages' vocabularies, but the basic syntax is derived from Simplified English. ↩︎

  2. By this time Arabic has dissolved into multiple related languages. ↩︎

  3. By this time English has split into a few regional languages, with “New Standard” an attempt to unify them again. ↩︎

  4. By this time Latin American Spanish has fused into a single standard … with plenty of regional dialects. ↩︎

  5. Common in the Draconian Empire. Within the Empire, there are more Commoners (and slaves) than Nobles and Warriors combined. ↩︎

  6. Literally “Lighash marks”. The Lighash are a subject species often found as bureaucrats, corporals, and clerks. Their invented alphabet, based on their old language, caused literacy in the Empire to skyrocket. ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. Uncommon in the Draconian Empire. Every educated Draconian subject understands Noble Speech, even if speaking it would be unthinkable. ↩︎

  8. Requires technological or surgical augmentation. ↩︎

  9. Writing in First Ones’ ruins seem to have a psychic component. If reading the original “dots and bas reliefs” there, treat as “Uncommon”. ↩︎

  10. Derived from the Neo-Shavian Alphabet. ↩︎

  11. Uncommon in the Draconian Empire. Knowing Quugh is a mark of education in the Empire. Only about 30-40% of ethnic Draconians read Quugh. ↩︎

  12. Near Universal Real-Time Translation System. ↩︎