Languages and Dialects of The Known World

The inhabitants of The Steppes speak the same language, simply known as the Common Language, which is actually a standardization of the beastfolk language. Beastfolk clans can understand each other and even speakers of the Common Language to a very reasonable extent. This is due to the fact that most commonly used words and mood-setters in inter-clan beastfolk diplomacy and dialogue, such as scatological references, sexual-related idioms and references to each other's mothers seem to have remained immutable over the years, perhaps for the common goal of easier understanding. As a general rule however, the farther a clan's territory is from The Steppes, the harder it is to understand them and the more alien their language becomes.

The first humans to flee from Malahs Kovoss and settle in The Steppes of course brought this language with them. One of the objectives of the foundation of the University of Stallia was to study and create rules to govern and standardize this Common Language. To an external observer, the Common Language and most of its dialects would have a hissing quality to it, with many seemingly unnecessary "s" and "h" letters in it. Most beastfolk claim that this is just how saurians spoke, but given the nature of the saurians' tridimensional writing, it seems unlikely that they could convey much of that information in a medium such as vibrations in the air. Steppe scholars are more inclined to believe that this is simply the result of beastfolk mutations, favouring certain kinds of sounds over others harder to vocalize without unchanged human bodies.

A few dialects and accents exist within The Steppes however, especially in isolated rural communities or where beastfolk are more abundant. This is particularly true about Arrakans, a city originally founded by beastfolk mutineers whose descendants were left mostly unchanged. Other people of The Steppes would define the Arrakensis accent as loud and barking and the first question first-time visitors in Arrakans often make is something along the lines of "Why is everybody yelling?".

Then there is the case of Hieronhorte, once more a mystery that refuses to have any light shed on it. The savages simply lack any kind of spoken language and communicate among each other through the most rudimentary ways, if any. This is in part because of how unwise it is to make any unnecessary noise in the predatory lands of Hieronhorte, though at the same time they lack a written language. In the end they just seem unwilling to communicate overall and  only very rarely even bother learning languages.

Ogres farther north, on the other hand, speak or rather grunt the only other known, non-beastfolk language. Again there isn't much coherence, but it seems to be a very basic language whose main purpose is to claim stuff and pick on fights. Time and again it proves hard to study their language not only because most humans only ever come into contact with a living ogre as their food, but because in radical contrast to the savages they seem to enjoy making noises and often don't really speak so much as they simply emphasize their emotions with random grunts and howls.