Kdaar

This language is primarily used by the Grand Duchy of Marlheim polity.

Description (Specifications)

Kdaar is the aboriginal language found in the Marlheim and Pendang systems in what is now the Grand Duchy of Marlheim.

History & Background (Historical Linguistics)

Kdaar, when it was first encountered by Caledonian traders after the end of the Long Night, was a linguistic anomaly; while most dialects of Reavers Cant are clearly formed from layers of pirate slang and jargon atop a base of Anglic, Kdaar was Anglic-based "cant" over a base of something else. Since Marhleim was, through the 800s, largely a Reaver-run society, academic study was difficult.

Linguists from the Royal University of Caledon, as well as Imperial scholars, had by about 850 formed a theory that traditional Kdaar shared certain linguistic markers with ancient Saie, including a grammatical structure with nothing in common with any current Human linguistic framework, as well as some vocabulary borrowed from humanized Aslan phonology.

Over this, of course, were layered dozens of dialects of Reavers Cant, making the job of determining the proto-dialect (the original version of the language) difficult, above and beyond the herculean task of getting Reavers - outlaws - to make time for academic inquiry into their various phonology, vocabulary, accent and grammar patterns.

Marldaar

In the 900s, with the rise of the paranoid kleptocratic government in the Duchy of Marlheim, the language itself became a tool of government control. The GRYMOV - the pseudo-religious political party that manages most aspects of daily life in the Duchy - adopted an official version of Kdaar, "Marldaar". This is the version taught in Marlheim general schools, and used in most of the military.

It is noteworthy that the leadership of the party, the military and the secret police conduct their business in Galanglic - knowledge of which is a key prerequisite for moving into leadership. Marldaar exists in large part to exclude people from leadership, and provide leadership a modestly secure means of communicating in public.

Political Objectives

The language taught to Marlheim students is full of imputed meanings intended - according to GRYMOV scholars and curriculum designers - to mold students' thinking to fit government objectives. Signally, Marldaar has no terms to express the ideas of "principled dissent", "individuality" or "opposition". The terms for "dissident", "individualist" and "reformer", to pick three examples, are given deeply pejorative subtext.

There is some controversy among Marlheimologists in the Imperium, the Principality of Caledon and the Confederacy of Duncinae as to how well the strategy of turning the language into a tool of domination is working; some scholars and intelligence operators note that there are occasional glimpses of dissent in the Duchy, while others note that they seem to be getting fewer and farther between.

Speakers of Marldaar are linguistically interchangeable.

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This language is primarily in use in the following areas:

• Reaver's Deep Sector
  • Grand Duchy of Marlheim

References & Contributors (Sources)

This article is incomplete meaning it lacks important features, structure, or content. More work needs to be done to make this a good article. This is step 4. in the article refinement process. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

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.

• Mitchberg