Dragonfire Guidebook

I. A Brief Summary of Draquen- The Language of Drages

Draquen is very similar to Norwegian and German in terms of how it's spoken (Norwegian-sounding words spoken with the grating harshness of German); in fact, Drage Historians believe that Norwegian was influenced heavily by Draquen. However, it is written using not words, letters, or characters, but a series of different runes. All Drages, no matter the race or social class, are hatched with the ability to speak and verbally understand this language; however, they must be taught how to write and read in this language. Why this is has yet to be fully understood.

A single rune can have multiple words attached to it. Luckily these words are synonyms for each other and the particular word that is associated with that rune changes depending on the structure and the context of the sentence that it may be in.

Draquen is no longer verbally spoken daily in the modern world among Drages and has become an extinct language; much like Latin, as modern Drages have long since learned the languages of the Humans and Mages around them to allow for easier communication between the different species while the Drages are in their second skins (though some Drages of high status will address each other in Draquen regarding important matters). It exists only in the scrolls and other documents of old and in the names that the Drages have for the different types of magic as well as the names of the three legendary Drage races; along with the names for various body parts among other things. There have been several attempts over the past century or so to revive the daily use of Draquen; one in the early 1900s, another in the mid 1920's, and the final attempt being during the early to mid 1960's. Each attempt ended with its failure.

These days, only the female offspring of Royals are taught how to fully read and write in Draquen.