# Scyllian Runic

_(Note: This is heavily inspired by [Urbit's Hoon language](https://developers.urbit.org/reference/glossary/aural-ascii), and its use of phonetic pronounciation of symbols)_

## History

Scyllian runic is a derevation of the native peoples of Scylla, who, like the Charybdian natives, were capable stoneworkers. Where the Charybdians had strong vocal traditions, the Scyllians instead chiseled symbols into their stoneworks to pass on stories and ideas to their younger generations. This made them particularly difficult to colonize as integration was met with strong cultural foundations. During the Impact, Scyllian families who managed to make it to the Colonial bunker complex on Charybdis would teach this language to the Colonial Administration and its integrated communities. It would eventually evolve into the defacto standard language among the citizenry of the Commonwealth.

## Syntax

Modern Scyllian Runic is an ideogram-based, null-subject language that shares certain properties with mathematical expressions. Runes in combinations with specific "grouping" runes can be used to indicate proper nouns, place names, or in some cases, complex chemical or mathematical expressions.

Runes are a combination of two glyphs, where each has a single syllabic pronounciation, usually only 3 characters in length in traditional script. This makes runic texts able to store incredibly dense amounts of information, or communicate quickly.

An example Scyllian Runic phrase:

 :% ># +&
 colcen garhax luspam
 "food" "more" "need"

Translated: "(They) need more food"

Each rune individually represents a concept:

1. `col` typically represents a resource, `cen` is a body, Translated, the "Body's Resource", aka Food.
2. `gar` can mean "more than", "hax" can mean "to possess" or "to have ownership", Translated, "Possess More than".
3. `lus` is used to describe "literal meaning", associated with `pam`, the glyph for "need" or "necessity", means that the pair is

More complex sentences leverage the multiplicative and associative properties of glyphs.

For example, to say "Harold killed that man yesterday":

%<     {   harold  }   ^%     @<
cengal kel harold  ker ketcen patgal

(body less) Harold (male body) (day less)

Literally translated, "Harold reduced (the) body (of that) man (the) day past."

## Grammar

In this context, "Harold" does not have a runic representation, usually to indicate that this proper noun is from outside the Scyllian culture. All Scyllians have a three glyph string to represent their name, usually preceeded by a `tis` rune: `=`. If Harold was a notable farmer, his Scyllian name might have been `tiscol censig`, or `=: %~`, roughly translated "The Person of Food Care". This might be followed by another `tis` prefixed triad, typically either that person's family name, or tribal group.

Scyllian sentences follow a grammatical syntax that prefers the order "verb, subject, target, modifiers", and groups adverbs or similar target specific modifiers with a `-` or `hep` rune.

If we wanted to modify the above sentence to say that Harold killed the man _quickly_ yesterday, we would write:

%<     {   harold  }   -    >;      ^%     @<
cengal kel harold  ker hep  garmic  ketcen patgal

(body less) Harold (more speed) (male body) (day less)

Literally translated, "Harold reduced great speed (the) body (of that) man (the) day past."

## Glpyhs and their Meanings

This is by no means a comprehensive list of meanings. Scyllian dialects may have overlaps between glyphs, or specific meanings for runes that are not well represented by their consitutent parts. The table below is compiled using the most common definitions for glyphs, and can be reliably used to determine the meaning of a rune in most cases.

| Symbol | Name | Idea/Concept |
| -------- | -------- | -------- |
| \ | bas | above, climbing, flying |
| $ | buc | across, around, surrounding |
| _ | cab | below, underneath, subservient to |
| % | cen | body, tribe, whole |
| : | col | resource, thing, item |
| , | com | growth, young, new |
| " | doq (doh-CUH) | few, pair, together |
| . | dot | one, alone, unique |
| / | fas | digging, burying, inside of |
| < | gal | less, removing, decreasing |
| > | gar | more, adding, increasing |
| # | hax | possess, own, control |
| - | hep | with, attached to, added on |
| { | kel | (grouping symbol, start of proper noun)
| } | ker | (grouping symbol, end of proper noun)
| ^ | ket | male, masculine, warrior |
| + | lus | literal, explicit, specific |
| ; | mic | speed, movement, intensity |
| ( | pal | (grouping symbol, used to apply the last rune to many things)
| & | pam | need, necessity, required |
| ) | par | (grouping symbol, used to apply the last rune to many things)
| @ | pat | sun, day, light |
| [ | sel | (grouping symbol, removes the last rune from the context, "without")
| [ | ser | (grouping symbol, removes the last rune from the context, "without")
| ~ | sig | woman, mother, care |
| ' | soq (soh-CUH) | piece, part, portion |
| * | tar | night, darkness, void |
| (backtick) | tic | unknown, different, misunderstood |
| = | tis | known, prefix of a name, understood |
| ? | wut | question, concern, exploration |
| ! | zap | warning, alarm, danger |

## Numerals and Numerical System

Besides using the arabic numerals as normal, the numerical representation is slightly different for numbers above ten.

The initial ten numbers phonemes are:

| Symbol | Phoneme |
| -------| --------|
| 0 | doz |
| 1 | mar |
| 2 | bin |
| 3 | wan |
| 4 | sam |
| 5 | lit (like l33t) |
| 6 | sig (SEE-guh) |
| 7 | hid (HEE-duh) |
| 8 | fid (FEE-duh) |
| 9 | lis (LEE-suh) |

Note the zero-starting numerals. For numbers beyond ten, a suffix is added. The first suffix, "zod", is implicitly appended in the informal form to the above ten numbers (i.e. `dozzod` is `00`, `marzod` is `01`)

| Symbol | Phoneme |
| --- | --- |
| 0 | zod |
| 1 | nec |
| 2 | bud |
| 3 | wes |
| 4 | sev |
| 5 | per |
| 6 | sut |
| 7 | let (same as english equivalent) |
| 8 | ful (same as english word: "Full") |
| 9 | pen |

Therefore, 10 is `doznec` and 99 is `lispen`. For numbers using more than 2 digits, the process repeats with a `-` in between each block. Spoken, the `hep` can be omitted.

Examples:
1,000 is `dozzod-doznec`
420 is `dozbud-samzod`
9001 is `marzod-dozpen`
250,000 is `dozzod-dozzod-litbud`

Mathematics uses the conventional symbology (+, -, /, *, =)

i.e. 2 + 2 = 4 is

`binzod lus binzod tis samzod`

Reverse polish notation (operands first, then operator) is also valid

`binzod binzod lustis samzod`

In this form, the `hep` for numbers over 100 is required for syntactic clarity