Traveler's Tongue

The Traveler's Tongue, often times called Common is a constructed language used by many people throughout Rathnir and more recently Eldham as a lingua franca. It is by far the most widely spoken language in the world.

The language is claimed to be created in large part by Athaz the Traveler, who noticed a common problem with many people throughout the world that they could hardly understand each other, thus making diplomatic disputes extremely common, with even wars erupting between two groups over mutual misunderstanding. The solution, therefore, would be the creation of a new neutral conlang that hopefully all could understand. He placed together a twenty-six letter alphabet, combining aspects (vowels, consonants, grammar, etc.) of multiple languages he had encountered, and constructed this new language called "Traveler's Tongue", eventually going around teaching various peoples on how to use it. It was due to Athaz's efforts that the language spread quite quickly, not to mention how easy it was to learn and utilize it.

In opposition to this, the Niedene scholars claim that the Jagdasians spoke a similar tongue along in their homeland along with their native ones. Other Niedene scholars claim the language originates from Rathnir but spread to Jagdas through unknown means, the main point however is that it is widely disputed among the Eastern Academic Community.

Another point of contention is the existence of Mariner's Tongue, a language that seemingly split from a much older Proto-Traveler's Tongue.

The Aurlûnor Velande became the last nation on Rathnir to be exposed to the language on a massive scale, mostly due to it's isolation during the Golden Age of the nation.

Out-of-character purpose
The Traveler's Tongue was actually a term created by Coffeeccubus due to the fact that many people use English throughout the World. Previously before Coffeeccubus, many argued that it would be highly difficult and impractical to use their conlangs to communicate with each other, although a few users did agree that it is strange (lorewise) that there was no explanation for how people understood each other. On 4 July 2021, the Traveler's Tongue would be created to hopefully give a in-lore reason why people can understand each other despite being from different cultures. The language is basically semi-Shakespearian English, due to how many people in character seemingly introduce themselves using thy, thee and nay whenever Cofffeeccubus roleplays with another person who tries to communicate with their character, Sareariel Lelya-Earcala. However, it also uses Modern English, as many had seen words from modern English being used in roleplay. The language is also a reference to Esperanto on the "constructed part" except it has "succeeded".

Objections

Some players, namely Dongus (CaptainCH), object to the existence and purpose of Traveler's Tongue. In fact, Dongus has doubted that Traveler's Tongue was even necessary in the first place, has claimed that it is lazy and uninventive, and has claimed that it still doesn't make sense even if we were to accept its existence in the lore. Therefore Traveler's Tongue should not be made official canon.

It is known that a lot of players assume a relatively high position in roleplay. Being a peasant and farming for your entire career is boring, and players quickly take up new roles as builders, merchants, diplomats, and aristocrats. Obviously, these jobs require a lot of communication with other people, especially those in other countries. One might say that this is exactly the reason why Traveler's Tongue was invented. However, there are a few problems with this conclusion.

First of all, there's no reason why it has to be English of all languages. It could just as easily be a lingua franca more directly inspired by an in-universe conlang such as Audalad or Niedene languages. One might reply that it is because people use English in Discord and the in-game chat, as well as books that are produced. But this reply doesn't do anything, because Discord and in-game chat are never taken to be what literally happens in the lore. That is like saying that because Stoneworks takes place within Minecraft; Rathnir and Eldham are literally made of cubic blocks, or that cities like Lhûmar, Ardat, and Fornost are only comprised of a dozen or so buildings and have a population below 100, or that empires like Escharia or Bardonia are only a few kilometers big. Nobody literally thinks that, and those who do are usually new players that aren't acquainted with the lore. Likewise, people make modern sex or political jokes in in-game chat and Discord all the time, but nobody seriously thinks that it has anything to do with the lore. The context of what happens within the chat and Discord only apply loosely and accidentally, and this is especially apparent when people make in-lore reasons for inactivity. So why assume that it absolutely has to be English that is being spoken, when it just as easily (if not more easily) could be a different language in the lore that is being used? An in-lore language that's not English would remove the ambiguity that comes with having people speak the same in both the lore and real life.

As for the books, similar objections could be used, though it is a little less obvious. There are some books that only exist as memes, like "benis" and "Kama Shiftra." Most people would probably take these as not canon or maybe semi-canon (even if it's just for the LOLs). There are some books that are even despised and banned within the community, such as character fanfiction involving minors. Clearly, those books would not be canon. But if the canonicity of books can be dismissed so easily, why not take books as not a literal, exact representation of lore? People use English for these for convenience, not because it's established as the offical lore language. There are even some cases of lore texts being translated into their native language once the person completed their conlang. Obviously those people would say that the native language has always existed in the lore, and it wasn't invented out of the blue. So it's reasonable to conclude that English is really only used for convenience, not because of any lore reason, and that people in the lore actually don't speak English but instead different languages, which brings us to our next point.

Even if the proposed lingua franca isn't English, it might not even be necessary to propose one in the first place. Now at first this might sound preposterous to some. Clearly, people communicate with each other with such an ease that there's little doubt that they speak the same language. But this is unrealistic. There has never been a worldwide lingua franca for pretty much all of recorded history, and there especially wasn't one during the medieval and Renaissance periods of Europe which Stoneworks players like to emulate. To be sure, trade and exchange of information will definitely tend towards a single language for ease of communication, but for most of human history, international leaders were either polylingual or used translators. And this could easily be said with Stoneworks. Why posit a worldwide lingua franca to begin with? Why not just assume that there are multiple languages and people use translators or know the languages, which is one of the reason why traders and diplomats are so good at their jobs? This is especially egregious considering the fact that isolationist nations like Aurlûnor are completely willing to accept and use a global language, making them quite hypocritical.

Third of all, using English as a lingua franca is uncreative, and a worldbuilding community like Stoneworks doesn't deserve a lazy excuse for faux English. The use of English as a "common speech" in works of fantasy is an overused cliché, its most prominent cases being Westron in Lord of the Rings, Common Tongue in Game of Thrones, and Galactic Basic in Star Wars. This is ignoring the fact that those cases aren't really English anyways, but whatever language the book/show/film is translated into. With Stoneworks, it is simply English, full stop. This reeks of Anglocentrism, globalism, and Western exceptionalism, which is a reoccuring theme in Stoneworks lore. These are issues that affect real life, and some people play to escape these issues. Some people may be directly affected by these things and want to create an environemnt promoting their own indigenuous culture. If everyone was assumed to speak English, then this would be at worst offensive and at best dismissive to that culture. The Stoneworks community should be more accepting and encouraging of different worldbuilding ideas and not pull the same old Western fantasy tropes. Conlangs and exotic religions should especially be encouraged. Rathnir and Eldham are not Earth after all.

Finally, even if we were to accept that Traveler's Tongue existed, it would bring up more questions than answers. Now, people will say that Traveler's Tongue just is English, so any instance of English being spoken is an instance of Traveler's Tongue. This language was reported to have been created by Athaz himself. Now, not only is this a selfish grab for another feather in the cap on Athaz's part, it makes no sense. For Eldham has supposedly had people living there long before Athaz 'discovered' it and the ol' Collies came knockin'. In lore time this would have been a few years, at most a few decades. Even then, it is very unlikely that Traveler's Tongue would have been able to spread across the entiriety of Eldham, not to mention every single leader, whether it be an emperor or a cheiftain, learning it to perfect fluency, all in that short window of time. Not only that, but Rathnirites have spoken English long before Athaz ever set foot in it. Heck, Jagdas was full of English speakers. So what, were they speaking a different language then? One might bite the bullet and accept that Athaz had little to do with the actual development of Traveler's Tongue (and if we are being honest here it was mostly Coffee). However, that person might say that perhaps Traveler's Tongue was always a thing and that early Jagdasians would have been able to communicate with Eldhamites and native Rathnirites. This is extremely absurd and doesn't explain why people have ancient conlangs for their cultures in spite of it. Either Traveler's Tongue was a prehistoric universal language (which is inconsistent with ancient civilizations and cultures) or it was a modern development (which is inconsistent with players in Eldham and Jagdas as well as Rathnir pre-Athaz). If it was neither of those, then the origin of Traveler's Tongue is a complete mystery, and there is no point in making it a thing other than through the sheer force of will. At this point, the defender of Traveler's Tongue might concede that perhaps it was a modern development by Athaz and any people before that just were either polylingual or used translators. But if that's the case, then there's no real point in establishing Traveler's Tongue. People could have always been polylingual or using translators, and even if a lingua franca did arise, it's not guaranteed to be an exact replica of English.

In conclusion, the idea of a "Traveler's Tongue" faces many problems, and it definitely is no candidate for an all encompassing lore language. It is unnecessary, uncreative, and makes little sense in lore. Therefore, Traveler's Tongue should not be canon, and for all intents and purposes, it should not exist.