Elesmere is a world, in which magic and supernatural things are common. It's parallel to the Earth, our world.
. . . . . TBC
Elesmereian is the common language of Elesmere. Everyone is taught to speak it as their second language (their first is the language of the clan they belong to) between the ages of 2-6. After that, they are required to practice the language often enough that they don't forget it, but not so often that they forget their first language.
Just like all languages, Elesmereian has strict rules that it must follow. (Since Elesmere is simply English, only modified, you have to follow the rules or else you are speaking/writing gibberish)
Rule 1 - The first two letters of a word, are always placed at the end. (EXAMPLE : only = lyon) You can see in the example, that 'on' was placed after 'ly'.
Rule 2 - In the case of plural words, a 's' is always placed after all the other letters. (EXAMPLE : herots = others) You can see, that I applied the Rule 1 first, then added the 's' at the end.
Rule 3 - In the case of a suffix or prefix, the suffix or prefix is always separated from the root word by either a dash or apostrophe. (EXAMPLE : rapa'aphgr = paragraph; aypl'gin = playing) For paragraph, I separated graph, because it is a recognizable word, then applied Rule 1 to both parts. Same thing for playing. I separated the root word from the suffix, then applied Rule 1.
Rule 4 - In the case of a repeated letter or awkward letter order, a vowel is inserted, and the extra letter removed. (EXAMPLE : ath = that; anestr'al-nigti = translating) I applied Rule 1 for 'that', then removed the extra 't'. For translating, I had to separate the root word 'translate' then separate it again to get 'trans-la-ting' then I applied Rule 1 to each separated part, and placed a vowel after the 'n' in 'trans'. (certain vowels follow certain constants. email me for more info)
NOTE: These are simply the basics needed to be able to speak Elesmereian. Once you have the down, you can begin learning to read and write in Elesmereian.
Elesmereian calendar's aren't that different from our own. They have seasons and things, but unlike our calendar of twelve months, the Elesmereian calendar has only six months (sevon everything thirteen years). And unlike our calendar, which has a new season every three months, the Elesmereian calendar has six seasons as well as months. Each of the Elesmereian seasons is named after a god that they believe brings about the season.
Terin - the coldest season in the Elesmereian calendar. Named after Terin, god of ice and death.
Lauff - a season much like our fall. Named after Lauff, god of harvest and well being.
Mers - the hottest season in the Elesmereian calendar. Named after Mers, the goddess of fire and war.
Pir - the softest season; the weather always being pleasent. Named after Pir, the child god of the air and peace.
Meru - the longest season, the days long and often rainy. Named after Meru, the goddess of the sun and the hunt.
Teral - the dry season. Named after Teral, god of the earth and famine.
Rin - the wet season. Named after Rin, goddess of water and rebirth.
Rokuda - a seperate season, the weather of the Dudin. The sky is always cloudy, thick black clouds, but sunny along the ground. When this happens, they call it the sevon time. This season only occurs every thirteen years.