Ruulden

Ruulden is the oldest surviving language in the world and remains the official tongue of Ruulran. Though once widespread across Directionland, it diverged over centuries into modern Common Directian. Today, Ruulden is reserved for religious rites, ancient texts, formal diplomacy, and cultural ceremonies.

1. Phonetics and Pronunciation

Ruulden has a flowing and sacred tone, emphasizing clarity, reverence, and elegance. It employs soft consonants, front-focused vowels, and distinctive diacritical marks.

Consonants

• Generally soft: r, l, n are fluid and common.
• Emphatic or authoritative terms use hard consonants: k, g, t.
• "Ch" is always pronounced as /x/ (as in Scottish "loch") or /ʃ/, depending on context.

Vowels

Vowel	Sound	Example
a	/ɑ/ as in "father"	Tharn
e	/e/ as in "bed"	Miran
i	/i/ as in "machine"	Y’ie
o	/o/ as in "more"	Orin
u	/u/ as in "moon"	Ruul
ö	/ø/ as in German	G’öu
æ	/æ/ as in "cat"	Ichæ

• Stress Patterns: Stress falls on the first syllable, unless a divine or proper root demands priority.
• Vowel Harmony: Words favor consistent vowel frontness or backness. Front vowels (e, i, ö, æ) group together; back vowels (a, o, u) likewise cluster.
• Glottal Stops: Represented by apostrophes (’), glottal stops occur in contractions, sacred names, and compound formations (for example, Ruul’yun, Y’ie).

2. Grammar Structure

• Word Order: Subject, Object, Verb (SOV). Y’ie Ruulran vath → "I see God’s Home."
• Poetic Variation: In invocations, chants, and blessings, Verb, Object order is acceptable for rhythm or emphasis. Kesh uth! → "Save us!"

3. Articles and Determiners

• Definite / relational particle: nai = "of / with / from" (possession or relation). Nai Ruul’fa → "of the Divine Father."
• Indefinite article: dri = "a / an." Dri vortha → "a tribe."

4. Nouns and Pronouns

• Nouns: No gender inflection or case declension. Possession is indicated by prefixes or possessive forms (for example, Ruul’yun, Tin vortha).

Pronouns

Role	Singular	Dual	Plural
I	Y’ie	—	Uhce
You	U’me	U’alæ*	U’chæ
He / She / It	K’ou / G’öu / Umte	—	—
They (singular)	U’tha	—	—
They (dual / plural)	—	—	Ichæ
Us (object)	—	—	Uth
Possessive	Y’ier ("my"), U’mer ("your"), Tin ("their"), Uhrer ("our")	Y’ieralæ ("my two"), U’meralæ ("your two"), Tinalæ ("their two"), Uhreralæ ("our two")	Y’ier ("my"), U’mer ("your plural"), Tin ("their"), Uhrer ("our")

• Use duplicated prefixes with -alæ for dual possessive as needed.
• U’chæ ("you all") is used for clarity, though rarely needed in formal Ruulden.
• Uhce is the normal subject form for "we," while Uth is the object form "us."

5. Verb Conjugation

Ruulden verbs take prefixes or suffixes to indicate tense, aspect, mood, and negation.

Tense

Tense	Form	Example
Present	Root verb	vath = to see
Past	n’ prefix / -an	n’vath, kethan
Future	-rath / r’	vathrath, r’keth

• n’ is formal; -an is more colloquial.

Aspect

• Perfective (completed): n’ prefix (n’vath = saw / have seen)
• Continuous (ongoing): -sha suffix (vathsha = seeing)

Mood

• Indicative: Standard form
• Imperative:
  • Standard: ver- prefix + verb (for example, vervath! = "See!")
  • Formal / plural (optional): add -en (vervathen! = "All of you, see!")
  • Poetic / colloquial pleas: bare-root verbs may be used in chant or prayer (for example, kesh! = "Save!")
• Subjunctive (wish / hypothetical): -æth suffix (vathæth = "may see")

6. Existential Statements

Use ya as a copula ("is / are"):

• Ruul ya. → "God is."
• Nromitscha nai Ruul’chtan ya sar vathal. → "The north of God’s Mountain is so beautiful."

7. Possession

Use possessive forms or prefixes for nouns:

• Ruul’yun = "God’s Children"
• Tin vortha = "Their tribe"
• Y’ier tsor = "My heart"

8. Plurals

Plurality is implied by context or marked with the suffix -ithæ:

• Ruulithæ = "gods"
• Vorthæ = "tribes"

9. Adjectives and Adverbs

• Adjectives precede nouns: Tharnæ vortha = "ancient tribe."
• Adverbs usually precede verbs, but may follow for emphasis: vath umsha = "sees clearly."

10. Compound Words

Compounds are frequent and semantically rich, preserving divine roots with internal stress:

• Ruulran = "God’s Home"
• Ruul’fa = "Divine Father"
• Ruul’chtan = "God’s Mountain"
• Druinithæ’Rathil = "Connected Ones of the Forest and Land"

11. Negation

Two negation prefixes are used:

• nu- for verbs (nu’vath = "do not see")
• na- for nouns and adjectives (na vith = "no death")

12. Questions

• Interrogative particle: rath- = what / why / where (rathvath? = "What do you see?")
• Auxiliary questions: u’ie = "can you?" (rathu’ie uth nu’vath? = "Can you not see us?")

13. Numerals

Ruulden numerals are short, stress-initial forms that behave like adjective-like modifiers. They normally precede the noun they quantify.

Examples:

• alæ venshar = "two bells"
• daren tharn = "ten cycles"

Compound numerals are generally written as single words.

13.1 Basic numerals

Ruulden	English
Eir	one
Alæ	two
Tir	three
Voræ	four
Melen	five
Koren	six
Shalen	seven
Othen	eight
Naven	nine
Daren	ten

13.2 Eleven to twenty

For 11 to 19, Ruulden forms compounds from daren + the unit root. Twenty is formed as "two tens."

Ruulden	English
Dareneir	eleven
Darenalæ	twelve
Darentir	thirteen
Darenvoræ	fourteen
Darenmelen	fifteen
Darenkoren	sixteen
Darenshalen	seventeen
Darenothen	eighteen
Darennaven	nineteen
Alædaren	twenty

13.3 Higher tens and one hundred

Higher tens are formed by placing the numeral root before daren.

Ruulden	English
Tirdaren	thirty
Vorædaren	forty
Melendaren	fifty
Korendaren	sixty
Shalendaren	seventy
Othendaren	eighty
Navendaren	ninety
Darendaren	one hundred

Examples:

• dareneir tharn = "eleven cycles"
• vorædaren venshar = "forty bells"
• darendaren yun = "one hundred children"

14. Key Vocabulary

14.1 Pronouns

Ruulden	English	Role
Y’ie	I	Subject singular
U’me	you (singular)	Subject
K’ou	he	Subject
G’öu	she	Subject
Umte	it	Subject
Uhce	we	Subject plural
U’chæ	you (plural)	Subject plural
U’tha	they (singular)	Subject
Ichæ	they (plural)	Subject plural
Uth	us	Object
Y’ier	my	Possessive singular
U’mer	your (singular)	Possessive singular
Tin	their	Possessive singular
Uhrer	our	Possessive singular
Y’ieralæ	my (dual)	Possessive dual
U’meralæ	your (dual)	Possessive dual
Tinalæ	their (dual)	Possessive dual
Uhreralæ	our (dual)	Possessive dual

14.2 Nouns

Ruulden	English
Aitha	cold
Chtan	mountain
Chtomia	south
Draveth	time
Draunakithæ	holy ones; saints
Druvath	darkness
Dröka	mineral
Finor	truth
Gref	gold / currency
Karr	noise
Markt	market
Miran	energy (light in Old Ruulden)
Nalketh	knowledge
Naneth	sanity
Nromitscha	north
Orrichia	east
Orrin	there
Ran	home
Rathsern	the Cursed One (Dark One)
Ron	sound
Ruul	god
Ruul’fa	Divine Father
Ruul’sha	Sacred Mother
Ruulran	God’s Home
Ruul’chtan	God’s Mountain
Ruul’yun	God’s Children
Sharnith	centuries
Tharn	cycle; forest (Old Ruulden)
Tharun	land
Tsor	heart
Umsha’ron	loudness
Valth	clarity / lucidity
Venshar	bell
Vethal	pride / healing
Vith	death
Vorthæ	tribes
Yierka	festivity
Yun	child
Yun’tharn	birthday

14.3 Verbs

Ruulden	English
dallav	suffer; endure pain
drenai	come
draveth	happen
fina	feel
finai	have felt
keth	find; claim; seize
kesh	save
nathën	mourn
n’rith	live inside
orin	go
rath	ask
rathav	create; cause
rathûn	speak; cry out
shail	touch
sovan	sleep; lie dormant
tharnav	grow; rise
valar	help; strengthen
vath	see
velkar	escape; break free
verthal	wake
drailun	guide
orrith	carry
druin	protect

14.4 Adjectives

Ruulden	English
draunak	sacred / holy
N’val	wrong
N’veth	worse
Nornæ	every
Rathin	cursed / accursed
rith	living / alive
sharn	eternal / continuous
umsha	loud / strong
vathal	beautiful

14.5 Particles / Prepositions

Ruulden	English
ai	and
dri	a / an (indefinite article)
e’	of / linking particle
inna	in / within
nai	of / with / from (possession)
sar	so / thus
ya	is / are (copula)

15. Curse Words

The following terms and phrases are used colloquially, or offensively, in Ruulden.

15.1 Curse Nouns

Ruulden	English
dranöth	shit / excrement
bosan	breasts / tits
netha	Nether
porsha	pig / swine
butan	butt / ass
dornun	idiot; stupid person

15.2 Curse Phrases

Ruulden Phrase	English Equivalent
Nai Odivia bosan!	By Odivia’s tits!
Porsha butan dornun!	Pig-assed idiot!
Netha butan!	Nether-ass!
Nai tharn!	By the cycles!
Druvath n’kethæ U’me!	May darkness claim you!