Thirmone

The primary language of the Ormine sophont species, and of their interstellar polity, the Gerontocracy of Ormine.

Sounds

"Heavy" sounds give the language a ponderous quality that suits the gerontocratic culture of the Ormine. In truth, this quality of the language has little to do with abstract notions of age, but rather is a consequence of the semi-aquatic nature of the Ormine species. Sounds are favoured if they carry well both underwater and in air, meaning low, deep, resonant noises.

Spoken Thirmone utilises several vocalisations that humans cannot easily reproduce.

The Ormine are the 'Oew in their own tongue, which the Solomani corrupted first to "Orm".

In Use

Ormine speak slowly; it is generally accepted that it takes up to ten times as long to communicate something in Thirmone as it does in Anglic. To Ormine ears, Human speech sounds like crazed, high-speed chittering. Typically, written messages or computer translation are used when the two species communicate (as they do often, since the Gerontocracy of Ormine is heavily influenced by its Solomani minority population). Written Thirmone is easy for Humans to learn.

Selected Proper Nouns

• Akhlare
• Chorikhnare
• Hipera
• Kipelaresh
• Merpikhnomi
• Meshmo
• Nichekoralo
• Nishror
• Othinamor
• Papohirme
• Parolere
• Rormepeni
• Sherarehi
• Thithmasha
• Thometha

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.

• Mongoose 2nd: The Deep and the Dark