Islish Language and People:

Legend says that the Islish races came from the west, leaving a homeland island far behind on the other side of the Wider Seas. The Islish people are dark skinned with blue or green eyes, pointed ears, and wavy/curly hair. They live on the islands of the Knownseas: Baria, Farsouth, and Jezel.

Evolution of Islish and Ancient/Axterran languages:

The early Islish who arrived in the Knowlands established a settlement at Old Fleet on the southern coast of Vitrus. They also followed the Dran River all the way up to Axterre.  Due to seismic activity and the environmental disaster when Axterre fell, the River Dran no longer reaches all the way to Axterre.

Initially, Axterre was an Islish city.  Their language, Proto-Islish is written and preserved as Axterran or “Ancient.”  While their language continued to be used in Axterre, most of the Islish folk eventually abandoned Axterre and other outposts they’d built (including Old Fleet), preferring to live on the islands in the sea.  Landish people moved into Axterre as the Islish were leaving.  They adopted the Proto-Islish language in Axterre, but not elsewhere.

The Eldar people are from the landish population of Axterre, and they reclaimed Landish as their language when their shaman led them away from Axterre, associating the Ancient language with the crimes and flaws of the Axterran culture. By this time, no one remembered that the Axterran language had originated as Proto-Islish.

In the island nations of Jezel, Farsouth & Baria, Proto-Islish developed over time to Old Nekkian and then into modern Islish (at the time of the Paradox Trilogy).

Proto-Islish/Ancient/Axterran is preserved as the language of Mystic. 

Axterran/Ancient is structurally akin to Islish, the way modern Italian is similar to Latin.

Landish Language and People:

Landish folk emerged from the caves on Dragon Perch Mountain.  Most have light skin, straight hair and brown, blue, or green eyes. Their ears are rounded.  Cavehearts are landish people who stayed within these caves.  Others ventured out and spread far and wide, across the Knownlands speaking Landish, except for those who settled in Axterre.  This language is completely different from Islish.

For Jax to learn Landish is like a French person learning German.  They use mostly the same alphabet (although Islish uses accents and symbols for dipthongs that Landish doesn’t use).  For this reason, few Barians attain fluency in Landish because it’s so different from Islish. 

Just as the structural similarities between Ancient and Islish make it a much simpler task for an Islish speaker to learn Ancient, the differences from Landish pose a challenge for any Landish speaker who is trying to learn Ancient.  Since Ancient is the language of Mystic, the first several years of study at Castle Caledra are spent in intensive study of the Ancient language.

Dragon Magic can be wielded in any language, but most people with Dragon Force are Landish, so that’s the preferred language at Dragonsholm.

Other creatures of the Knownlands & their languages:

Trolls and sprites had their own language but abandoned it to communicate with the landish people.

Nyads speak “Sylvan,” but they learn Landish also.

The Fae (fairies, dragons, oracle) speak Ancient (Proto-Islish) when they wish to use words.  But these creatures often speak through art, music, dance, and fire. They took up language when the Islish first ventured to the Knownlands. Some of them will speak Landish (Fairy Queen) and the Oracle will speak all languages, and then some.