Orish
Spoken In: Ethereal Plane; Or'sìth enclaves on the Material Plane.
Evolved From: Built by the Or'sìth; no mortal ancestor.
Script: Wisp-like flowing syllabic glyphs. Each vowel glyph encodes plain and accented forms together. Left-to-right.
Type: Fusional (4 cases), OVS. Grammar places consequence before cause. Gender is not a category; sina covers all third-person. K and G have no glyphs.
Common Use: Or'sìth cross-plane speech; mortal scholars of ethereal philosophy.
Orish was built by the Or'sìth, beings of pure cosmic energy native to the Ethereal Plane. It is the language of something that has never been afraid of disappearing. The syntax names consequence before cause: the verb carries the outcome directly, and the agent who produced it gets demoted through case marking rather than fronted. When Li'en vanished, did the cause matter more than the fact?
The alphabet is vowel-rich and liquid. Each vowel glyph holds its plain and accented forms in one symbol, so A and Æ share a glyph, as do E/Ë, I/Ï/Î, O/Ö/Ô, and U/Ü. K and G were never assigned glyphs at all. The numbers begin at one, because there is no Orish word for zero. The Or'sìth do not conceive of absolute absence. Even disappearance is a noun.
"We name what happened before who caused it. When Li'en vanished, did the cause matter more than the fact?"
— Or'sìth elder
Grammar
Noun Case (Nolë, "cosmic energy")
| Case | Form | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Nolë | /ˈnolə/ |
| Accusative | Nolëm | /ˈnoləm/ |
| Genitive | Nolër | /ˈnolər/ |
| Instrumental | Nolëth | /ˈnoləθ/ |
Verb Paradigm (thal-, "to dream")
| Form | Conjugation | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | thal | /θal/ |
| Present Continuous | thalin | /ˈθalin/ |
| Past Simple | thaleth | /ˈθaleθ/ |
| Future Simple | thalel | /ˈθalel/ |
Pronouns
Orish has four pronouns. Third-person is gender-neutral and collapses singular and plural into sina.
| Pronoun | Orish | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| I | ina | /ˈina/ |
| You | una | /ˈuna/ |
| We | wina | /ˈwina/ |
| They | sina | /ˈsina/ |
Numbers (1–10)
Orish counts from one. There is no word for zero.
| Number | Orish | IPA | Number | Orish | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ëla | /ˈəla/ | 6 | ïlm | /ɪlm/ |
| 2 | nax | /naks/ | 7 | örlï | /ˈørlɪ/ |
| 3 | thël | /θəl/ | 8 | xäl | /ksæl/ |
| 4 | hena | /ˈhena/ | 9 | fëlor | /ˈfəlor/ |
| 5 | wëth | /wəθ/ | 10 | thax | /θaks/ |
Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning | Symbol | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nolë | Cosmic Energy | ᔲᔩᔰᔧ | /ˈnolə/ |
| Fälë | Ethereal Plane | ᔹᔦᔰᔧ | /ˈfælə/ |
| Nëlor | Material Plane | ᔲᔧᔰᔩᔱ | /ˈnəlor/ |
| Lïën | Haven | ᔰᔨᔧᔲ | /ˈlɪən/ |
| Hërom | Harmony | ᔶᔧᔱᔩᔳ | /ˈhərom/ |
| Zälyr | Enlightenment | ᔻᔦᔰᔸᔱ | /ˈzælɪr/ |
| Tälï | Balance | ᔵᔦᔰᔨ | /ˈtælɪ/ |
| Vhys | Spirit | ᔺᔶᔸᔴ | /vhɪs/ |
| Nolöx | Disappearance | ᔲᔩᔰᔩᔼ | /ˈnoløks/ |
| Lötrî | Remnant | ᔰᔩᔵᔱᔨ | /ˈløtriː/ |
| Älë | Dream | ᔦᔰᔧ | /ˈælə/ |
| Ïrïs | War | ᔨᔱᔨᔴ | /ˈɪrɪs/ |
| Myrä | Mystery | ᔳᔸᔱᔦ | /ˈmɪræ/ |
| Zühn | Shadow Realm | ᔻᔪᔶᔲ | /zyhn/ |
| Wërï | Knowledge | ᔷᔧᔱᔨ | /ˈwərɪ/ |
Vernacular & Slang
| English | Orish | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| Glimmer | Wëm | /wəm/ |
| Spark | Zär | /zær/ |
| Shard | Rys | /rɪs/ |
| Echo | Vël | /vəl/ |
| Shade | Mëx | /məks/ |
| Glitch | Wïl | /wɪl/ |
| Flicker | Rïn | /rɪn/ |
| Vibe | Zëm | /zəm/ |
| Ripple | Süf | /syf/ |
| Fade | Löm | /løm/ |
| Rush | Fryn | /frɪn/ |
| Flash | Äkh | /æx/ |
| Insight | Sërï | /ˈsərɪ/ |
| Glow | Lüm | /lym/ |
| Hush | Shïn | /ʃɪn/ |
Common Phrases
| English | Orish | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| The dream whispers softly | Älë vïnth lï | /ˈælə vɪnθ lɪ/ |
| Balance between material and ethereal | Tälï sërï märi | /ˈtælɪ ˈsərɪ ˈmæri/ |
| Mystery of the cosmos | Myrä hurïn | /ˈmɪræ ˈhurɪn/ |
| Drift through the ether | Tër sërï fälë | /tər ˈsərɪ ˈfælə/ |
| Fade into the dreamscape | Löm sërï älë | /løm ˈsərɪ ˈælə/ |
| Why hold on to dust? | Nür sërï tös? | /nyr ˈsərɪ tøs/ |
| Flesh is but a wisp | Hïx sërï lötrî | /hɪks ˈsərɪ ˈløtriː/ |
| Spirits transcend the tangible | Vhys sërï örô | /vhɪs ˈsərɪ ˈørɔ/ |
| Embrace the unseen | Sën sërï öntë | /sən ˈsərɪ ˈøntə/ |
| Hold to the light, not the shadow | Ëthë sërï zühn | /ˈəθə ˈsərɪ zyhn/ |
| The fade reveals the form | Löm sërï hïx | /løm ˈsərɪ hɪks/ |
| Shadow answers the light | Zühn sërï zälyr | /zyhn ˈsərɪ ˈzælɪr/ |
| Spirit carries the remnant | Vhys sërï lötrî | /vhɪs ˈsərɪ ˈløtriː/ |
| Mystery teaches the dreamer | Myrä sërï älë | /ˈmɪræ ˈsərɪ ˈælə/ |
| Balance outlives the shadow | Tälï sërï zühn | /ˈtælɪ ˈsərɪ zyhn/ |
Writing System
| Symbol | Sound (IPA) | Symbol | Sound (IPA) | Symbol | Sound (IPA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᔦ | /a/ /æ/ | ᔧ | /e/ /ə/ | ᔨ | /i/ /ɪ/ /iː/ |
| ᔩ | /o/ /ø/ /ɔ/ | ᔪ | /u/ /y/ | ᔹ | /f/ |
| ᔶ | /h/ | ᔰ | /l/ | ᔳ | /m/ |
| ᔲ | /n/ | ᔱ | /r/ | ᔴ | /s/ |
| ᔵ | /t/ | ᔺ | /v/ | ᔷ | /w/ |
| ᔸ | /j/ | ᔻ | /z/ | ᔼ | /ks/ |
| ᔵᔶ | /θ/ (Th digraph) | ᔴᔶ | /ʃ/ (Sh digraph) |
Each vowel glyph carries its plain and accented forms together. A reader decides the diacritic from context. The alphabet has no B, C, D, G, J, K, P, or Q; words the Or'sìth borrow from other languages get rewritten in the nearest available sound.
Word Order
Orish is OVS (Object-Verb-Subject): the object (the consequence) leads, the verb follows, and the agent trails last. This matches the principle that the grammar names consequence before cause, demoting the agent rather than fronting it.
- I dream the energy: Nolëm thal ina (energy-ACC dream I)
- We seek knowledge: Wërïm thal wina (knowledge-ACC seek we)
Contrast Travoglyph (VOS): both put consequence before cause, but Orish fronts the object and sends the agent to the tail.
Phonology & Prosody (Liquid ethereal tongue)
Consonants: /f h l m n r s t v w j z θ ʃ x ks/. Liquid and fricative-rich, with the digraphs Th /θ/, Sh /ʃ/, and Kh /x/ (kh has no glyph of its own).
Vowels: /a æ e ə i ɪ iː o ø ɔ u y/. Each vowel glyph carries its plain and accented forms together; the reader decides the diacritic from context, exactly as a vowel-rich liquid language would.
The only stop is /t/. Orish has no /k ɡ p b d/ at all, the tongue of beings of pure cosmic energy avoids hard closure. The few words that once carried borrowed stops were re-formed to the liquid ideal: Tälïk -> Tälï (balance), qël -> thël (3), kwëth -> wëth (5), dax -> thax (10), Gëthë -> Ëthë (hold), and the past tense -ed -> -eth (thaled -> thaleth).
Romanized y is /j/ next to a vowel and /ɪ/ as a syllable nucleus (Vhys /vhɪs/, Zälyr /ˈzælɪr/).
No word for zero, and the script has no glyph for B, C, D, G, J, K, P, or Q; foreign borrowings get rewritten in the nearest available liquid or fricative.