Homeworld: XenoLanguage blog - AmDDRed

HOMEWORLD: THE QUESTION OF XENOLANGUAGE

Content

1. The Sources
2. Change Log
3. Intro
4. The XenoLanguage Question
5. Kushan Language
   • Kushan Language: History
   • Kushan Language: Specifics
     • Travelling Issues
     • Sea, Ocean and Desert
     • Soban Red
   • Kushan Language: The Sound
   • Kushan Language: The Orthography
     • Kushan Orthography
     • Somtaaw Orthography
   • Kushan Language: The Vocabulary
6. Taiidan Language
   • Taiidan Language: The Sound
   • Taiidan Language: The Orthography
   • Taiidan Language: Names
7. Other Languages
   • Race of Naggarok: Orthography
   • Progenitors: The Sound
   • Other Names

The Sources

• HW1 - Homeworld 1, manual, game
• HWC - Homeworld Cataclysm/Emergence, manual, game
• HWCO - Homeworld Cataclysm, outtakes
• HWWOS - HW and HWC ship descriptions, well of souls
• HW2 - Homeworld 2, manual, game
• HW2PR - Homeworld 2, Prima Official eGuide
• HWDOK - Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, Expedition Guide, game
• HWR - Homeworld: Revelations RPG
• HWRS - Homeworld: Revelations RPG Story Seeds
• HWM - Homeworld: Mobile, homeworldsource.net
• HW3 - Homeworld 3
• HWDST - Homeworld Dust Wars drafts

Change Log

• 18.10.23 - added a note about Kushan writing direction, and about Soban orphan schools;
• 23.10.23 - moved HWR book cover review to Stranger Things II, and added a few words about HWM;
• 26.10.23 - updated History with HWM Kiithless and consequences

Intro

- 'What did you want?' Hussein asked.
Tatarsky said something extremely inappropriate: 'I just need a second. I wanted to ask you, as a representative of the target group: what associations does the word "parliament" have for you?' In his fright he didn't even notice whether he was speaking normally or not. Hussein wasn't surprised at all. He thought for a moment and answered:
- 'Al-Ghazavi had this poem called "The Parliament of Birds". It's about how thirty birds flew off in search of the bird that is called Semurg - the king of all birds and a great master.'
- 'But why did they fly off in search of a king, if they had a parliament?'
- 'You ask them that. And then, Semurg was not just a king, he was a fount of great knowledge. That's more than you can say for a parliament.'
- 'How did it all end?' asked Tatarsky.
- 'When they had endured thirty trials, they learned that the word "Semurg" means "thirty birds".'
- 'Who from?'
- 'The voice of God told them.'
(c) Viktor Pelevin, Generation P

First, Homeworld charms you with its visual aesthetics, introducing spaceships that are designed so well that you believe in them. Then it gives you the space with a real 3D, being comfortable enough. After that you get to know a heart-breaking story that holds you to the very end. And if you’re patient enough, you may find a background lore, literally building a civilization on a Sajuuk forgotten planet.

Of course, not every game of a series could gather all the bingo like HW1 did. Though HWC had less of hard sci-fi, it was still about taking destiny in your own hands, against the odds, being an actor, not a passive watcher. Though there was a huge upgrade to 3DS RTS gameplay, HW2 felt a bit like a fan serviss, repeating some key elements of the first story, and it was kinda lacking the will of previous games: too many prophecies and uncontrolled hyperjumps. Even Bentusi self-destruct themselves in humility to the prophecy, not in defiance that they will not be bound. "Do not go gentle into that good night" (c)

And after captain Soban escapes Vaygr Thaddis Sabbah station like in a good Hollywood blockbuster (there should be a Homeworld Sobani Renegade shooter about these events), while Kushani prisoner do not survive interrogation - you understand, that R-rating with “Kharak is burning” and “cut us loose” had been replaced by a PG-13 with wizards, princesses, dragons, artifacts and Dothrak's. Somtaaw must have been dwarves of Moria in this kind of universe.

HWDOK was a great return to the HWU after a significant pause. There are a few questions about gameplay mechanics, like formations, docking, not really required 3D UI in a 2D RTS, and others, which makes HWDOK a bit uncomfortable after previous HW’s, Dawn of War’s, Ground Control’s etc., and moddability, that feels too much on HW1 level; and additional DLC factions of Soban and Khaaneph, that does not feel like unique things… Well, this game already requires a remake. But not storywise - the story feels good, though it is retconning HW1 lore and adding a few temporal mistakes, with the music of Paul Ruskay it creates an almost cinematic experience with a bit of a grim mood: the planet is dying, the first Jaraci expedition is lost nowhere with Rachel’s brother, the war with reactive elements continues, the traitors are around the corner - well, there is no positive mood of HW1 that the reason and science will overcome everything, thus the Khar-Toba with a HW2 Great Core becomes somewhat of a Deus Ex Machina to save everyone, while in HW1 the Guidestone had a bigger importance as an all-Kharak uniting symbol. But anyway, though I don’t like the Expedition Guide for being a separate application instead of a classic PDF, it has added quite interesting details to the lore of the game.

The next addition to the HWU is Homeworld Revelations RPG. While not being a videogame, as an RPG book it gives an essential glance into HWU lore and makes a half of a step to the old questions, how big are the ships and how do their interiors look by allowing you to create a playable character in this world. Well, I’m into the board games (so, I’ll wait for HW: Fleet Command by the same Modiphius) but I’m not having any Hellfire Club around, so I’d better wait for some Gearbox’s Turanic Borderlands, or Bioware’s Officers of the New Taiidani Republic, or any other RPG video game.

And the last but not least entry to HWU is Homeworld Mobile. While I'm not a big fan of mobile games, and I'd like to have a PC client, or even more - a roguelite/like using these assets (like WH40K: Teamkills used assets of Dawn of War 2), maybe, in a way of HW3 invents its Wargames mode, or some RTS-RPG like the Space Wolves, somewhat to make a King's Bounty out of Might & Magic Heroes, if you know what I mean - the game is pretty decent in a current state, and I see that people are trying create a worthy lore, though it's more related to the Mr. Nimbus Galaxy. But still it's required to come to terms with the technical imperfections of unit movement that was a lot better even in HW1 - like, 24 years ago?

Anyway, like Dune Universe has started with Arrakis, or Star Wars - with Tatooine, Homeworld has its Kharak, that despite being burnt and abandoned still is the key element of HWU. Somehow the authors managed to create a believable picture of a desert surviving civilization, so familiar and not so familiar at the same time. Of course, there are elements of other sci-fi universes, or similar references, but all together they’ve made something really unique, that has the potential of a world class sci-fi series. And unlike them HWU has created its own thing, only by the artists’ natural bias related to our earth civilization.

And it really would be great that this isolation would continue to be. I’m not looking for other space Americans (yeah, I know that Relic/BBI is from Canada). Star Trek, Babylon5, BSG, StarGate, Firefly and a lot of other not so famous series have already done it, even Star Wars are not so far-far away with their space Wild Wild West.

We have a big planet with thousands of cultures, and when we get another B-class sci-fi cowboys or a generic sci-fantasy space opera, it’s getting tiresome. Why to spend time on the same thing just in a bit different wrapper? It's like going to another country and search there for McDonalds. That’s why I’m pushing that some things should be taken seriously, let there be no “blackface'd” Wakanda stuff, but the real dive into the declared culture, somewhat of Herbert Wells Dune thing, more of Stanislavski's system. Let's not have another Ashf Lshtshfum.

The XenoLanguage Question

When I see “KHAR-KUSHAN” Latin letters on a hull of a new Kushan mothership of HW3, when we get unhidden HW2's Elohim, HWDOK's Rachel, Roman, Nathan, Deckard names in the games, then it looks like the series are starting to forget their father’s face. Or mother, ship, in our case. Yes, we do understand that the story is loosely based on Moses Exodus with 600000 men out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, that swallowed chasing pharaoh army, with the Kadesh passing problems, and Sajuuk's being Tetragrammaton…

But it’s not a reason to add everything ending with -a/e/il, especially with an American accent - for example, I still don’t get why the Ray-chill name was chosen? I believe even ”Rakheel” would have sounded more appropriate, no?

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
16 Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.
17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
(c) Jeremiah, 31:16

Yes, Frank Herbert had Jews in the very last book of his Dune series, but it’s kind of our universe, only far-far away in the future. Homeworld is a thing of itself, it’s a different Galaxy, seeded by not the father of a millennium, Sajuuk, who came and gone, if we take in account the Dust Wars drafts. And while the references thing is good, it should be set in a less direct way, like it was done with Albegiddo, Lungma Jiin, Caaliburnos, or even with the Chalice of Life - nobody is calling it a Holy Grail, though everyone understands the reference.

And it’s interesting that every game is trying to add something new to Kushan language, but it appears everything but the Kushan themselves are using this language. For HW1 there is a list of Kushan/Taiidan ships and only Taiidan ships have Kushani codenames, Kushan ones have regular English names. HWC continued this tradition, HW2 ignored it, and in HWDOK this fate awaited Gaalsien vessels. But we must admit that this tradition has come out of the fact that HW1 allowed to select the playable race for the campaign - in my case Taiidani more practical, earth-like, design was fighting the Banana Emperor - and because of that these ship description were kind of race-neutral, if possible. Even the background lore was written in a neutral way, in general, not mentioning nor Kushans, nor Taiidans!

And still with Kushan “Imperator” carrier, and very Kharaki names with double vowels, like Kudaark, Seejur, Koshiir Ra - said to be Taiidan, and the very name of a race - brings a Taiidani fly in the Kushani ointment! I believe those descriptions are somewhat messed up, and as they’ve already appeared in a fan public rotation, these should be updated according to the already not new agenda of Bananship prevailing over the Toastership. And that's the reason why I will set it all to Kharakian culture, thus to be Kushan's, unless officially told otherwise.

Well, it could be a funny explanation that everyone is speaking the same language in HWU, but doubtful - there could be a HWU Lingua Franca, but other languages should exist as well. I believe that up to the Homeworld War, and some time after, the Taiidan language was playing this role:150 star systems, 360 billion speakers, and a powerful stability of the 3000 year reign of the Taiidan Empire, influencing all the cultures around… But Kushans could not be influenced by anything as they were out of this information space for those 3000 years!

It could be a real plot twist if Taiidan and Kushan once being brother cultures, and then something like Cain and Abel reference has happened in between; or it could have been a Sarah and Hagar story, and that’s how two nations were born - somehow it’s a twisted link to Hiigara/Hegira/Hagar; or the Esau and Jacob conflict about the birthright; or Joseph story being sold into Exile by Galactic Council brother… Let’s stop here, it seems I went a bit too far with that. Whatever, the first one looks like an actual thing, as Hiigarians who attacked first were exiled to wander homelessly like Cain did.

13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.
14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, hand whoever finds me will kill me.”
15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.
(c) Genesis 4

Interesting, that Cain is interpreted as a blacksmith, a technological progress prevailing over nomadic "cowboy" being. And that's what happened on Kharak - the sons of Age of Reason, Baal prophets the Lucifers, light bringers, have built their Babylon tower, the Mothership, to win the Promised Land.

Anyway, these assumptions were used as a potential explanation of having one language at least for Taiidans and Kushans.

Then, maybe Kushan and Taiidan are language brothers? Well, there is a problem with that as well.

If you take a look at this tree, you may see a cat on a European branch of the Indo-European language. This hypothetical event of language split has happened around 3000 years before - as I am not telling a serious scientific lecture here, I won’t be precise at this moment, especially because I am no serious language scientist. But anyway, it would give an understanding that 3 millenniums of isolated societies can create a giant gap that you should mind. In our world it has created Russian and Norwegian languages - and they are neighbors! Other neighbors, Spain and Portugal, for sure have common language roots, split around the 12th century, but you just listen to the rhythm of the languages to understand they are different!

Languages change over time - no literature norm can stop it, only slow down: sooner or later new words and structure will become a new norm, despite any written examples to follow. People in different areas start pronouncing words differently, find some grammar shortcut, add local important details, some better grammar borrowings from neighbors, and if they get isolated enough their dialect can grow into a full-scale language. Especially if there were some conflicts with the neighbors, speaking almost the same language, there might be a situation when the government institutes starts looking for really different vocabularies, denying any relationship, searching for every word that differs the enemy uses, even if it’s just one village invention. Or vice versa: even in case of different language families the language that put himself in a vassal position for any reason would start adapting foreign words instead of good old native ones, as it would define a belonging to the higher culture, like it has happened with aristocratic French words for the old English, and American words for the modern elsewhere. As well, as quite abstract experiments show, new language speakers from the outside tend to bring some simplifications into language used as Lingua Franca, for example, Russenorsk, so difficult word forms are getting optimized. U ondesten wot I min?

Languages would vary in different ways: are there articles (e.g. a/the); are words genderly specified (une/un); are there word forms; how many times are there (is/was/etc.) and how they are expressed; are there any special sounds, common letter combinations and do the tones make the difference; what about plural form and numerals; how are the word qualities set - are they the part of the word, prefixes, suffixes, infixes etc.; what colors do they have, are the gestures involved, order the word is what, are there any other specifics?.. And that’s what came into my mind just now, probably there are a lot more cases. You can read about the language peculiarities in Gaston Dorren book, “Lingo: A language spotter’s guide to Europe”, and Guy Deutscher’s “Through The Language Glass”.

So, when I was searching out the Kushan words, I was trying to look at them not from the logic of the languages I know. Looking at two word phrases we cannot know what is the primary word and what is secondary, and if there is any strict word order. Like in French there is a difference between une ancienne maison and une maison ancienne, and it’s getting more complicated if we take the words Ham and Hamster, that look similar but are not related.

Of course, there are not many Homeworld languages we know about, but really, after 'Game of Thrones'/'Star Trek' artificial languages, it’s the beaten path already. I don't know if it's possible to use a neuronet to do the stuff? Like get the word pool, with their meanings, add a reference language, add some rules and specifics you’d like to have inside, and get a conlang vocabulary! Somewhat of a deep dream translator.

I believe it could be an interesting thesis for some bachelor/master papers for some linguistics students. I’m no way like that guy - so, who would dare? :)

Kushan Language

First of all, it’s not Kharakian, not Hiigaran, but Kushan civilization and Kushan language, as the ”Kushan” is ontologically higher than any planetary system: like “English” is not British, not American, not Canadian etc. language, and there were no London Empire. So calling Kushans as Hiigarans only is a bit exclusive, especially as there was Kharak already, and it was said that a lot of kiiths went away to seek for other worlds, starting with HWC and continuing with HW2/HWM events. Though it’s quite convenient to name a faction by its capital world, this might have happened in the Taiidan Civil War, having the Taiidan Republic, the Imperialist factions each claiming to be the only successor to the fallen Taiidan Empire, and other worlds. Well, as there was no such situation in Kushan Empire, probably, it can be named Hiigaran Empire as well. But not the language - it may be only the Hiigaran dialect.

Let’s follow the history of the Kushan language.

Kushan Language: History

The fleet began a push from Taiidani space to the Hiigaran homeworld. Every planet along the way was given the choice: join the Taiidan Empire, or be annihilated… every planet but one.
(c) HWR, p.236, Taiidan, A Cycle of Violence

Initially there was the Ancient Kushan language - we don’t know if it was one and only on Hiigara - as it’s the only planet of Ancient Hiigaran Empire that was exiled according to HWR, but, as the Hiigara was the capital of the Ancient Hiigaran Empire, the administrative center, it dictated how the other related worlds should be speaking, and all those who were exiled should have spoken this Old Hiigaran Empire Lingua Franca, and it should have been used as a main language in Khar-Toba’s. So, no matter, if there were any other Hiigaran languages, they can be reduced to the subject, as most probably during the Exile years on sublight convoy ships all the differences have been polished and averaged into a kind of Khar-Tobian mixture, like Belter Creole. Hard to tell if it was related to all convoy ships, what kind of communication and interaction they had, were they exchanging people back and forth, but if they didn’t, then the proto-Kadesh language started its evolution even before the separation, and in 13 generation’s isolation it should have become a thing of its own. Well, unless all people onboard those Khar-Tobas were in a cryosleep, though the reference tells it's not.

It’s interesting that there is a chance that the parts of the Ancient Kushan language had merged into Taiidan language - culturally: words, ideas, religion, maybe even affecting Taiidani Lingua Franca.

Only five Exile ships had reached Kharak - or in other words, they had decided they went far enough, to the very edge of the Galaxy, so they might have a chance to restart their culture. Somehow only one ship was found many years ago, but that’s not the question we are discussing right now. But this could be a source of 5 basic proto-kiiths with their own dialects. Anyway, the Dark Ages has hidden all the perturbations of just kharakied Kushans, so we can only guess what might have happened with them. Most probably, during those years, isolated settlements lost a grand part of previous vocabulary, as useless, and gained a new one, about the Kharakian environment and required actions to survive. The language got balkanized. Only traveling kiithid, like Manaan, S'jet, had a somewhat unifying communication with settled kiithid, not letting the people go wild, exchanging culturally.

The next stage of Kharak language reunification was done in the Heresy Wars: by the will or by the force people learned Gaalsien or Siidim ways. Somtaaw and Naabal were encapsulated in Khontala mountains and Tiir valley accordingly. A new powerful dialect had been born in the South: the kiith Paktu had come to power. Kiith Kaalel had joined the numbers of “mediator” kithid. A small number of war refugees wandered in the deserts to be known much later as Khaaneph.

Naabal Intervention had added another strong dialect into play: establishing The Great Daiamid in Tiir made its influence inevitable. Kiith Gaalsien had vanished in the deserts, going its own way, kiith Siidim has lost its political positions, but stayed around. Kiith Paktu being separated for 200 years in the South, joined the Great Daiamid. Mediator kiithid number grows larger: kiith Hraal is converged from 5 other kiithid, forced to find a common language, and the best candidate is the Naabal dialect. Kiith Kaalel makes a grand step towards Kharak unification, first, by starting a typography business and then radio broadcasts in Tiir, the Northern Capital. Kiith S’jet scientific dialect, based on somewhat of old Kushan “Latin”, affects all Kharakian scientists papers, kiith Manaan trading traditions bring their flavor into economics and entertainment areas, and PMC “Soban” have their grip on military sciences.

Kharak seemed to be unified but finding The First City on the remains of Khar-Toba showed a little bit of a different picture. This time it appeared that Kharak has 2 new languages: Gaalsien and Khaaneph. Naabal has strengthened its positions by pushing the Great Engineering Projects. Siidim with the treacherous actions during the Operation Khadiim has isolated itself from the other kiithid, thus going for their language, which won’t be hard with Siidim nationalistic strive for old traditions. Paktu took a little part in the events of the North, also ripening their own language.

All has changed with the Guidestone discovery and another Great Engineering Project: the construction of Mothership. Everyone was participating, even Siidim, so this must have been a language unifying event. And again, it must have been the dialect of Naabal that ruled the ball, with the additions of Somtaaw and Paktu, along with the mediator kiithid.

But after the Hiigara Landing the situation has changed but not that drastically: the most numerous kiithid were Naabal, Paktu, LiirHra, Kaalel, Manaan, S'jet and Soban. Somtaaw also wanted to join the affecting kiith list, but the numbers were talking against them. A lucky event has added 10000 members to their initial 15000 members, thus their dialect had been greatly diluted. So, in the very end only Paktu had been left with their Southern dialect, others using the more or less common Kushan language, Naabal edition.

With the Kiithless retcon introduction to the story (well, that question was never really addressed so it's not really a retcon, though this creates new twisting accents) we would have another turn in Kushan language evolution, that would be marked with even more Taiidan words in the Kushan vocabulary. Despite the apartheid politics of the New Daiamid to preserve Kushan culture of being "pure" and going into pretty radical nationalism to "save the nation" creating isolation from those "j'niiri griitidim" by the language barriers, state propaganda and censorship, forcing to learn only Kushan language and only in Kushan language, still, real life interactions between Hiigaran Taiidans and Hiigaran Kushans would enrich both languages (creating Hiigaran dialect of Taiidan language), in special cases even creating "Spanglish" situations. But, in general, plus to Naabal-Paktu dialects rivalry there will be another antagonism between people language that would borrow all the convenient and most used words and noble language that would hold to the Kharakian legacy and ancient Hiigaran Empire findings.

Though it's not the end point of the Kushan language story: as Vaygr War would mix up the cards granting more rights to the Kiith'neph, making Hiigara political system to not so stable as before shattering pillars of the founding kiithid, some of the those would decide to make Hiigara great again - just outside Hiigara. So all those Kiithid who will be able to organize their own independent existence outside there, would have a chance of their own dialect. And I believe, there will be: HWM is just about those Kiithid to rewrite starting conditions for their kin.

* In the end of it's existence Ferril have allied with Siidim and then was consumed by it. So I guess, the picture is not that correct in this aspect.

As for Kadeshi, their next milestone of radical language update was a meeting with Kushans after 13 generations, and there were consequences:

With the Kadeshi leadership in disarray and its people reeling from the revelations of their history, they underwent a drastic change in outlook. Just over half traveled to Hiigara after the war.
(c) HWR, p. 249, The Kadeshi After the Homeworld War

With the Kadeshis' power broken, the rich elemental wealth of the Great Nebula is again open for mining. Hundreds of fleets converge on the vast space to capture the rarest materials, turning the Garden into a hotbed of conflict, piracy, and skirmishes. Amid the chaos, surviving Kadeshi prey upon
those too weak to defend themselves from their continuing holy war.
(c) HWRS, p.189, The Great Nebula

Well, there is a probability that Kushans gained a new kiith, but doubtfully that the newbies would join any other kiith or settle on Hiigara. I believe it would be a problem for a descendants from light-gravity Kharak, but for a pure starfaring civilization it would be simply impossible. So, I believe that Kadeshi would continue to stay isolated, but maybe some new words from Kushan or Taiidan languages will appear in their vocabulary.

Kushan Language: Specifics

Travelling Issues

How about changing the directions feeling: we’re used to say that something is located on a side of ourselves, but in case of having more important thing like The Great Banded Desert it might become a measure of all travels, like Polar regions - and we know such cultures having a most observable object on the island to become a measure of their movement. And the fact that Kharak is somewhat of our Mars, creates a question if they could have any means of coordinates as we understand them: like no regular magnetic fields make compass useless. Interesting, how would the Kharakid orient in space? Having an unconscious need for some great object to be assigned to?..

Sea, Ocean and Desert

In HW1 Historical Briefing Majiirian water pool is named both as a sea and an ocean. Though it can be explained by a lack of proofreading, or having both on the South, which is ridiculous and now uncanonical (HWR), this error might be used as a Kushan language feature: Kharakid may not know big water reservoirs, so any of it would be a “sea” - the big water. And as there is only one ocean on Kharak - and quite a few seas, it’s easy to remember that the Majiirian sea is a special one. The problems with definitions will appear on Hiigara… Most probably, the new entities names would be taken Taiidan language - at least, until the archaeologists would dig out old Hiigaran language to replace, while the definitions are not rooted too well. Well, like it was with sputnik replaced by satellite.

On the contrary, there would be a lot of names for the different types of sand, as it plays a crucial role in the Kharakian environment, and separate names for the sand seas and oceans.

Soban Red

As well, color name loss would happen, as everything is getting optimized, and if you don’t see anything why would you need a word for this? I wonder how Soban has gained the red color for their banners? Out of the enemies? The banner is not fully mature till it drinks enough blood? It’s like the legends of how Austrian and Latvian flags were created - probably, this bloody thing was quite common in Medieval times. Same, the Spartans had their cloth red, so that enemies don’t see them bleeding. Maybe in Kushan culture there is a color - Soban, the bloody red, carmine?

My love to you is of color soban
Without you
I will be dead like the ones who betrayed the deal with Soban
You took my heart
Like Sobani took the boys who’s fathers betrayed Soban
Leaving you
Make me feel the mothers who’s boys were taken by Soban
But you stay cold
Like the Sobani ordered to fight each other to death
I’m loosing you
Like the new Sobani is losing one’s kiith

Of course, Sobani are childfree, and that might be related to all that babysitting, not to the children grown enough, like, in general trying to avoid pregnancy situations, leaving pregnant women in allied kiith villages and so one. I think, in the earlier days there might have been such a Janissary thing, and in the modern days there might be military colleges for orphans and elite schools for teenagers. Otherwise, how are you going to train a new Ender Wiggin?

Kushan Language: The Sound

We don’t really know how the Kushan language sounds. But we have some hints.

Culturally, the lore refers to a lot of things - you know, first, it’s Exodus and stuff, then it’s collective Genghis Khan; words “Kushan”, “Thaidan” and “Kharak” would lead you to Afghanistan, India or even China… By the way, there’s a song about Kharak..

Well, it’s kind of the collective East, like, the desert part of it. So, maybe we should listen to the languages used there? Maybe there we could find some interesting features, like the French “r” - but this time, for example, it could be “H”, that’s not lost but pronounced separately - kH (khattak), tsH (Tskhinvali), gH (Singh), tH (thug) and so on…

As well, there are names that could also serve as a pointer to the language music. I won’t repeat everything that is already collected below - in the end you can just rewatch all the Homeworld Movies - but I especially like how the Somtaaw-Sa is pronouncing the following text and especially the name “Clee-San”:

And speaking of the Jakuul, of the music, we have some Kushan songs from HW2 OST:

Anybody knows what this “[Un Nagana Travi Sana]” means?!..

And here... Something very familiar in this Indian melody... Is this really the coincidence that capital of Hiigara is named Asaam, like one of the Indian states?

Kushan Language: The Orthography

From the trailers, we’ve seen the HW3 mothership with a bold name “Khar-Kushan” written with Latin letters. Earlier, we’ve also seen a KUNDE ship from HW2 concepts, and there’s V for Vaygr, and the most iconic HW sigil is “15” written with Arabic letters… Looks like there is a contraband leak of Latin letters from our universe to HWU.

I don’t know if this is the reaction to HW2: FXmod implemented possibility of naming ships, and in HW3 we would have the same ability in Multiplayer; or it was meant that Kushans are understanding their language, as we are - our own, and as we’re playing as Kushans we should understand it as well, that’s why we’re reading some untranslated text… The first explanation is understandable for MP, but not for SP; the second one is too complicated. I believe the strategy of using the Roman alphabet should be constricted.

This picture of Gaalsien sand relief has directed me to some thoughts. No matter what scribing system there was before, it had to be modified to Kharak conditions. From Khar-Toba to the North Pole there is hardly any suitable material for scribing, at least for the guys who were used to the poor but high-tech conditions of a spaceship. This also might have been a reason for knowledge loss.

Of course, people would adapt to this. First of all, people with intelligence of auditory type (VAK learning theory) would gain prevalence, because people would tell stories orally. There might be the guys assigned as cultural ambassadors, as priests to save and retell the best stories, with the most valuable ideas gained so far.

For example, S’jetties might have ciphered some scientific principles into fairy stories the Liu Cixin way, making their own canon that would be better understood on a certain technological level. Though sometimes this all event may turn into a cargo cult replacing the initial idea in generations of Chinese whispers, like it happened with Gaalsien and Siidim - and most probably other kiithid. So, you’d still need something for saving information in its initial form.

And this sand relief has reminded me of a cuneiform: something from the same climatic region, using something that should be very common in deserts: sand, clay and stones. I don’t know how canonical is kiith Kaalel printing press invention in KDS 857 (HWCO), but it somewhat fits the idea Gaalsien being eco-terrorists and Naabal being igniters of irreversible ecological catastrophe, by cutting the forests for their steam factories, cutting the lungs of the planet… Like the key situation of "Saw" movie: the protagonist gets to know where is the key only after he already lost it.

So, second, I believe, kiith S’jet would invent their own alphabet more appropriate for these materials. They might come to this eventually, evolutionary, generation by generation; but even if they planned using it just for their astronomical records - hey, remember Guidestone? - it expanded everywhere. Theoretically.

Anyway, things that are getting used often, tend to get optimized reasonably.

And now, let’s see what the game has shown us.

Kushan Orthography

On the stone was etched a galactic map and a single word more ancient than the clans themselves.
Hiigara. Our home.
(c) HW1, Intro cutscene

If we take a look at the stone, we can find 2 star systems: the right one looks very much like the Kharak System, and the left one, what’s left of it, looks like the Hiigara System. And there 3 coordinate lines with symbols and also the symbols under the Kharak System. If we don’t care about those 3 extra words, does it mean that Kharak is a new Hiigara, our home?.. Or there is a dark side of the Guidestone?

As well, we can see that the normal position of a stone shows us Kharak system on the right side and Hiigara system on the left. While it's not the case that the Exiles knew the Final Destination, it could a be a hint the way they were looking at texts: unlike Europeans, they could be writing from right to left, well, how it's done in the Middle East.

It’s hard to understand what’s written on a stone, wherever the picture is taken from: be it HWR, HW1RM updated movies, or the picture from HW1 Historical Briefing. Though the latter has symbols that more resemble the map shown next. Maybe, the only word “Hiigara” is not from there, but from this map? And it looks like:

Though, in HW1RM the guys have also added the Kharak name on it, thus missing the “single word” moment. But on the other hand, we now have examples of post-exile Kushan written language examples. One should mean “Kharak”, the other - “Hiigara”.

The problem is that 1 symbol of the left word is the 3rd symbol of the right word. There might be different systems of writing words, like by each sound (with special combinations, like in English or French or else), by syllables, by meaning - hieroglyphic, and by whatever method there is. And as there are too many symbols, I guess, it could mean that it’s the first system. But besides Occam's razor explanation that these symbols are just a random set, I can guess that in Kushan language KH = GH, explaining the mentioned symbol repeat. But all the other letters… Well, you simply can’t make a word “infinity” out of the letters “r”, “a”, “e”, “s”. So, yes, it’s a random set. But it’s a good material for creating an alphabet.

From HW2 we also got some letters, if we can call them this way: there was something blinking in the right corner of the screen while analyzing the Progenitor ship. And it was used in a flipped mode, so I believe it’s the same random set of something that is even harder to call letters as they look pretty unstandardized. What designer made this font?!..

And in HW3 we might see both examples again:

Somtaaw Orthography

It looks like HWC tried to go on with the Kushan language: a lot of words added, also some kind of alien symbols shown in Somtaaw reports… But if you take a look attentively, you’d see that those symbols just repeat randomly.

Though it’s a good try, being honest. Same, these letters, symbol = meaning, with a little filtering out, could be used. I'd say these look like hieroglyphs, it can explain why there is the same symbol on Acolyte and Worker (don't know about any other vessel) - could it be "Kuun-Lan"? - but it means that there should be thousands of such hieroglyps, with specific combinations and liaison. Though this first 'X' on the engine looks suspiciosly like one of the HW2 symbols…

Somtaaw own half-isolated sub-civilization in Khontala mountains had its sequences. Well, if the Israel state has revived Hebrew, then stubborn Somtaaw could do a similar thing as well, at least the writing traditions.

Acts 7:51: Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

But there is another alphabet used in their reports:

Probably, Barking Dog were short on time and they thought that the Greek letters look alien enough for modern youth. You know, those ρμγςίχ and Math’i’mess’X…

Kushan Language: The Vocabulary

This part of the article was developed last, and didn't fit the limits of ModDB article, so you can read about the words of kushan language in the next article...

Taiidan Language

It’s interesting that while we don’t have any examples of Taiidan vocabulary, we have both the examples of their speech and alphabet, shown in HW1.

From the words we know, there is the name of captain Elson, his destroyer strike group named “Kapella”, and two squadrons named “Jasah” and “Cor” - to be honest, the latter looks too much like Kushan “cor”- “wrath”. If it’s true, then we might know another word from Kushan vocabulary, though it strange for Taiidani squad to be named in Kushan, needs some explanations. Otherwise, it may be the writer’s bias of creating “alien languages” - for example, Peter Watts' HW Dust short draft contained names like Kalgai, Durkarian, Ghiritzen etc, foreign enough, but not Kushan enough; in our case it might the opposite case when the author has not turned off the connection to Kushan civilization, imagining few names for the other one. And the last but not least, the famous Taiidan Emperor Riesstiu IV-2, earlier known as Khaldeesh - yes, again the double vowel - who’s name was brought to us by HWC.

It would be good to remember that the HW Galaxy is not only about the Kushan culture, to put those doubles everywhere, it’s more vice versa, like it was mentioned before, Taiidan culture to be affecting all the others. And it’s good to see that HWR tried to make a distance between Taiidans and Kushans, though the added Lords names reminded me for some reasons Victorian England of Dishonored.

But let’s check what those Taiidanies have.

Taiidan Language: The Sound

If you want to know how Taiidan language sound, just go HW1 cutscene 05-06, and you’d hear a Taiidan imperial broadcast:

And there is a hint. Those who know Russian will find something very familiar in it. It appears that the broadcast contains part of this message:

“In those historical moments when the spaceship "Vostok" ("East") made its flight with the first man, cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, over our planet, two-way radio communication was established between the Earth and the spaceship. Comrade Gagarin reported to Earth how he was feeling, how the flight was going. During short communication sessions, the Soviet cosmonaut transmitted: "I am observing the Earth. Visibility is good. I can hear you perfectly." After a while: "The flight continues well. I observe the Earth. Visibility is good. You can see everything. Some space is covered with cumulus clouds." Some time later, Comrade Gagarin reports: "The flight continues. Everything is fine. Everything works fine. Everything works fine. Let's move on." And again after a while: "I feel good. I am cheerful. I continue the flight. Everything is going well, the ship is working normally." These laconic messages, full of courage and confidence, which already today belong to history, are recorded on magnetic tape. Hear the voice of the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin from the Soviet spaceship-satellite "Vostok".”

So, the mystery is solved, Taiidanies are speaking Russian. Case closed.

But ok, let's be more serious. Like it was said in the article about HWU cartography, let's not mix inspiration and plagiarism, especially as it’s a really cool sci-fi reference. So, Taiidan is not Russian, but it may sound Russian. And there are languages that sound close to Russian, this is not a unique feature.

Taiidan Language: The Orthography

From the same broadcast about Gagarin you’d learn examples of the Taiidan writing. To be honest, it looks very suspiciously familiar there, but very fractured in the style of a cuneiform, maybe even Predators triangles. This seems to represent a system of letter-sound, so it might be a good resource for building a conscious Taiidan alphabet. 25-35 letters, Arabic digits, that’s it!..

Taiidan Language: Names

For some reasons they don't use surnames, to mark their family or vassalage. Looks like among 360 billion of Taiidani people there is no other Elson or Perillier (sarcasm).

• Cpt. Elson (HW1) - you know this cap
• Riesstiu (HWC) - the dynasty of Taiidan Emperors, started from Admiral Riesstiu (does it mean that there were only 5 emperors in 3000 years?)
• Khaldeesh (HWCO) - name of the Last Emperor in the HWC beta-version
• Assembly of Lords (HWR)
• Lord Rashor, Mother of Medicine—Health care
• Lady Asha, Exarch of the Air and Keeper of the Eternal Strings—Entertainment
• Lord Gisdalve, King of the Oceans of Knowledge, Knower of Knowledge, Abrogator of Lies and Destroyer of Falsehoods—Historical Records and Archives
• Liege Barbola, Conductor of the Million Mouths—Food and Resource Logistics
• Lady Eytapea, Keeper of the Keys and Holder of the Sky’s Ear—Internal Security and Navy Liaison
• Lady Korvakke, Supreme Justice Keeper of the Known Galaxy—Law and Justice
• Liege Ayshus (HWR), Liege of the Unfettered Thought
• Lady Corvux (HWR), Lady of The Darkness and Potentate of Strategic Thought
• Lord Walia (HWR), Diplomat-Lord to the Outer Realms and Guardian of Anthropological Accords
• Rien (HWR), Bannerbearer to the Favored Colonies of Riesstiu IV the Second, Captain of the Lightning’s Triumph
• Perillier (HWR), Imperial Assassin

HWM has also added a kiithless Hiigaran Taiidan name - Kidara Sasan.

Other Languages

Race of Naggarok: Orthography

It’s the thing from the Naggarok pod. Well, it looks a bit like one of those Somtaaw symbols, but it’s not verified in the Somtaaw reports set. Probably, the same bias of inventing alien language: this time an artist had not closed his connection to Somtaaw culture.

Progenitors: The Sound

Besides the word “Sajuuk”, which appears to be known in the other Galaxy (Xajuuk - HWM), we have somewhat of a speech by Progenitor Keepers.

Of course, it’s not a language, it’s an Easter Egg… But still, could it mean that Progenitor language sounds like reversed English? Or is this some kind of Tenet technology, and Keepers time goes backwards, like Merlin’s?!. Nah, most probably, Keeper told Kushans to go hyperjump themselves in AInian dialect of Progenitarian.

Other Names

Well, you see it yourself: Manaan - Makaan - Araan - L’haan… Vaygr, Turan and a girl from another galaxy (well, I don’t know, she may be a descendant of Eye of Aarran failed expeditions, lost for a hundred years…). But it shows a bad tendency of inner plagiarism from Kushans. Or it requires explanation - do Turans belong to the lost Exile tribes? Is Makaan the rogue Kushan?.. You never know!..

• Vaygr - Makaan (HW2), Jochilk Kaan (HWM)
• Kesura Oasis (HW3) - L'haan
• Turanic Raiders (HWR) - Tikk and Cosgrove, Araan Kalik
• Kadeshi (HWR) - Areshem, High Gardener
• Galactic Council Worlds (HWR) - Kariak, Ygri, Arthoe

Read More Of Homeworld

• Homeworld: Timeline
• Homeworld: The Stranger Things
• Homeworld: The Stranger Things II
• Homeworld: Cartography
• Homeworld: XenoLanguage
• Homeworld: XenoLanguage II
• Homeworld: Hyperspace Technologies
• Homeworld: Population
• Homeworld: Endless
• Homeworld: Bentusi
• Homeworld: Kadeshi
• Homeworld: The Beast
• Homeworld: Kiithid
• Homeworld: Kiith S'jet
• Homeworld: Kiith LiirHra
• Homeworld: Hiigarans
• Homeworld: Sajuuk-Khar
• Homeworld: Swords of Kharak
• Homeworld: Karan Sjet Ain't Getting Younger
• Homeworld: Baserunners
• Homeworld: Kickstarter
• Homeworld: Taiidani Fleet - The Key to a Victory
• The Pitch. Homeworld2: Emergence
• The Pitch. Homeworld2: Taiidani Mod
• The Pitch. Homeworld2: The Beast Mod
• The Pitch. Homeworld: Kharak Total War
• Gamedesign: Homeworld Series As An Example of RTS Unit Systems
• Games: 3DS RTS