The Sacred Language

Delivered by the Gods to the first Emperors of the three Empires (Wen, Sen and Ran), it can’t be considered a complete language in itself, but more a set of terms that were supposed to be used only in certain, holly settings. The words are always short (composed by two to four common letters) and have their own writing system, where each word is represented by a specific character called daitai, or marking in the common language. The association of two or more words makes for more complex meanings (daitai = dai (light) + tai (mark), making a mark of light or a holly marking).

All Dainin, or gifted ones (dai (light) + nin (person / human)), possess at least one daitai imprinted on their backs, from which they can draw power to be used on their daily tasks.

The sacred language is also used on the names of the Empires (Wen (sun), Sen (star), Ran (moon)) and their Provinces.

Even though that wasn’t its initial purpose, with time, the sacred language started to be used as a way to distinguish between social classes as well. As such one can consider six classes of citizens clearly separated by their birth names:

* The Royals, meaning the El’Dur (Emperor), the El’Dai (Empress) and the Emperor’s descendants in a position to inherit the throne. They always have three sacred names, the name of the Empire and two sacred given names, like Wen FeiWan, one of the El’Gin (Prince), in a position to inherit the crown. Wen meaning Sun, the name of the Empire, and FeiWan from fei (raging / angry) and wan (fire). Only the Empress has the right to use the name of the Empire as her family name, the Queen (Dailar) and the Emperor’s Concubines (Janwan) must keep their original Province’s names.

* Nobles in a positing to lead their Provinces, or to inherit the right to do so, also possess three sacred names. The first one being the name of their Province (working as a family or clan name) plus two given sacred names. For example, Zai MinTar, the Governess of the Province of Zai.

- The exception to these two rules are the Celestials (Tien’Elhar) who also adopt their Chosen One’s Province’s name, even though they will never inherit it or govern the land, like Zai HaeTai, the name of Zai MinTar’s Celestial.

* Other Nobles, that are not in a position to inherit their Provinces or their family’s lands will only use two names, like ZenTar (zen (silent), tar (wind)), which doesn’t mean that in the future they won’t be able to take on their Province’s name and become a legit successor.

* Following the same logic, people from normal families, with lands and/or businesses to run, will have three common names, a family name and two given names, like Rain BlueSky, where Rain is the family name. These are considered proper, honorable citizens.

* People who have left their families, for example to serve in the army or in the Palace, only keep their two given names, like HardRock. Which doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to take on their family name again, should they choose to return home and dedicate themselves to their families’ businesses.

* Homeless people without families and criminals only have one name, like Snow.

A sacred name can be granted to a common person through merit, which will sometimes happen to those in the military service. In these cases they can be granted only one or two sacred names, according to their accomplishments.

Likewise a person can be stripped from their names, should they, for example, commit a crime and be condemned to prison.

Names and the use of the sacred language are directly related to honor and pride, reflecting one’s position inside society and determining the way other people look and behave towards them.

To make things easier, at the end of each chapter I will add the translation to the common language of any sacred names used.

Hopefully I didn’t make things even more confusing … :P