Rakhli

A language of the Azhanti Human race, an amalgam of several Azhanti dialects that is widely used on their homeworld of Irale and nearby colonies.

Description

The original proto-Azhanti left behind on Irale by the Ancients most likely spoke a single language. As the various Azhanti clans and tribes were formed so, too, were differing dialects. However, these dialects retained a large degree of mutual intelligibility, differing mainly in vocabulary and in pronunciation of words. Thus, although no single language could be called "Azhanti", one could still speak of an Azhanti language in the singular. Rakhli is an amalgam of the various Azhanti dialects and is widely used by these Humans. In fact, Rakhli is the official language of the world government of Irale, used to mediate between the various Azhanti nations.

Phonology is harsh and guttural, well suited to the raspy-voiced Azhanti. Offworlders find it quite easy to make grammatical mistakes or mispronounce a word.

Examples

• Hazhan bagchekhe jo'kavin zivmasav a'yami chax di'e hakhin: "God has provided the obstacles needed by men to prove themselves."
• Iglan dakhu'ja lozhixe ya' chakhmiya: "Without discipline, there would be no society."
• Jax ayay la'makho heslane ise chakme?: "What is beyond those mountains?"

Lexicon

• Hazhan: Men, people.

• Ro'akh: Literally, "Challenge" or "Test", a religion. Ro'akh teaches that God created the universe as a training ground for the faithful, deliberately including numerous obstacles for the faithful to meet and overcome. A Ro'akhilan ("Tested One" or "Challenger") who succeeds in these challenges accumulates lishke (or "grace").

Trivia

Some outsiders mistakenly believe that the Azhanti worship the Emperor as a god. The mistake is understandable given that the language uses very similar words for "leader" and "God".

Locations

This language is primarily found in the following locations:

• Antares Sector
  • Gimgir Subsector
    • Most notably, Irale, Oghoutsekae, Shiresi

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• GURPS Traveller: Humaniti