Man in Space's Obligatory Medieval Fantasy Setting

[Man in Space]

Because everybody's got to have one.

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So in this world, which has no name of yet, your primary players are elves and dwarves. There are also the fey, goblins, and merfolk; the first are insane, the second much disorganized, and the third occasionally useful to everyone else but demanding respect. You also, naturally, have dragons of various forms. These tend not to be truly sentient, but rather "almost" sentient—though they are able to use magic and telepathy as weapons; when one gets inside your head, it's quite the traumatic experience.

You'll note I've not spoken of men. That's because they do not exist anymore. A dwarven-elven coalition wiped them out centuries ago. Humans were characterized by a number of things: Magic was utterly useless to them (and, very often, against them). Their brief, ephemeral nature made them impetuous and "impatient" (as far as the elves and dwarves were concerned); what they would often accomplish in months or years, the others would take decades to complete. Largely for these reasons, the elves and the dwarves exterminated them all. This was a bad idea, as men were the best at killing dragons due to their (men's) magic resistance.

I don't got much beyond that right now. (I'm currently throwing gleb outputs to the wall and seeing what sticks.)

[äreo]

It's like The Future is Wild but with magic and genocide. It will be interesting to see where you take it, because getting rid of mankind, to me, basically purges the symbology of these other species. You're putting them on totally different footing. It's hard for me to even conceive of them without relating them in some way to man.

[Ares Land]

There's an interesting story there! It's an interesting reversal of the usual Tolkienian trope of elves disappearing.

[Raphael]

It is a bit creepy, but interesting.

[sasasha]

That's fun. I like it. Planet of the Nasty Genocidal Magicfolk. Gives me vibes of ‘Gaia rebalancing herself’ tropes and Planet of the Apes. Curious to see more...

[Man in Space]

I just had a thought.

Suppose that instead of men vs. elves and dwarves…it was men vs. elves and the fae? What the fae would get out of it is, it's not as hard to gain the upper hand now that the people who were absolutely unaffected by their magicks were gone. The elves' arrogance satisfies them that these "tempestuous humans" were now gone. The dwarves fell in line because they have no choice but to. Goblins goblin, halflings…I don't know, are those considered "standard" fantasy or do they trace their origins to Tolkien?

Proto-Elvish

/p ^mb ts ⁿdz k ^ŋg q ^ɴɢ ʔ/
/f s h/
/tɬ ⁿdɮ/
/ɬ/
/β ɹ j/
/l/

/a ã i ĩ o õ/

The prenasalized series occur as such before oral vowels. Before nasal vowels, they become straight nasals (even *n < *ⁿdz), with *ⁿdɮ > *nl; this also happens in the coda (though *-ⁿdɮ > *-nt).

For convenience I'm going to write *ɹ *j as r y. This will allow me to write /ɮ/ as j, because ɮ is ugly as sin and as hard to romanize well. Also, *β v, and *ɬ ł.

(s/ł)(C)(R)V(V)(R/Z/s/ł)(H/k/q)

*ŋõãvaant 'elvenkind'
*ŋõãvandj-ołq 'elf'

*^ɴɢiavĩɴ 'innards, offal'
*^ɴɢiavĩ^ɴɢ-ołq '(internal/biological) organ'

*kiant 'ant colony'
*kiandj-ołq 'ant'

*ʔiŋŋiofaoł 'hair (of head)'
*ʔiŋŋiofaoł-ołq '(head) hair follicle'

*sqããʔih 'skeleton'
*sqããʔih-ołq 'bone'

Basically *-ołq is a singulative of certain collectives/wholes relating to (usually) sentients and a scattering of a few various terms.

*nõõyrał 'ill state, severely sick state, sickness, illness, malady'
*nõõyrał-ɴɢovaʔ 'time convalescing, time when X was sick, infection (instance)'

*kiaʔtsooʔan 'valley, cliff, sheer drop-off'

[keenir]

The elves' arrogance satisfies them that these "tempestuous humans" were now gone. The dwarves fell in line because they have no choice but to.

Now I'm wondering if they would dig deeper, in search of a depth the fae can't handle well. (or at least line their tunnels with iron)

Goblins goblin, halflings…I don't know, are those considered "standard" fantasy or do they trace their origins to Tolkien?

Goblins? I'd suspect Irish and Germanic myths.

Halflings, in the sense of half-human or human-like beings? I'd wager its from various mythologies.

In the sense of hobbits? I'd suspect Irish and English folk tales -- boggarts and brownies and the like. (though, yes, the line between any of those, and fae, is nebulous)

[Raphael]

Goblins goblin, halflings…I don't know, are those considered "standard" fantasy or do they trace their origins to Tolkien?

Goblins? I'd suspect Irish and Germanic myths.

Halflings, in the sense of half-human or human-like beings? I'd wager its from various mythologies.

In the sense of hobbits? I'd suspect Irish and English folk tales -- boggarts and brownies and the like. (though, yes, the line between any of those, and fae, is nebulous)

Repeating myself, I've got the impression that the most unique-to-Tolkien fantasy creatures are orcs. All the other ones have counterparts elsewhere.

[linguistcat]

If you just mean the term Hobbit for humanoid beings of short stature but not dwarves, then yes that was an innovation of Tolkien's. If you mean the concept generally, then I suppose there are plenty of terms you could use for those beings.

[Man in Space]

The dwarves live underground. As such, they are congenitally blind and rely on sound to navigate. Their languages feature clicks.

Proto-Dwarvish

/*p *pʰ *b *m *w/ *p *ph *b *m *w
/*t *tʰ *d *n *ɹ *l/ *t *th *d *n *r *l
/*ʈ *ʈʰ *ɖ *ɳ *ɻ *ɭ/ *ṭ ṭh *ḍ *ṇ *ṛ *ḷ
/*k *kʰ *g *ŋ *j *ʎ/ *k *kh *g *ĝ *y *λ
/*ʔ *h/ *7 *h
/kʘ̼ kʘ̼ʰ gʘ̼ ŋʘ̼/ *k@ *k@h *g@ *n@
/kǃ kǃʰ gǃ ŋǃ/ *k! *k!h *g! *n!
/kǁ kǁʰ gǁ ŋǁ/ *k// *k//h *g// *n//
/kǃǃ kǃǃʰ gǃǃ ŋǃǃ/ *k!! *k!!h *g!! *n!!

/*a *i *o/ a i o
/*aː *iː *oː/ a: i: o:
/*a↓ *i↓ *o↓/ à ì ò (these have ballistic phonation)
/*aʳ *oʳ/ ar or

The maximal syllable is

( C ( R / L ) ( w ) ) V ( w / y ) ( N / S )

where:

• C is any consonant;
• R is any rhotic and L any lateral;
• V is any distinct vowel;
• N is any nasal; and
• S is any voiceless stop.