Language & Hexscrypt

Language

Creator's Notes

The language of Tyrth was designed to look ancient but also be vaguely familiar. The characters that make up the language are based on the English alphabet - some characters are easy to parse but others are a little more abstract. This causes a strange and uncanny feeling when reading Tyrthian because you can make out some of the words very easily and others are harder to identify. There's always a slight feeling of doubt clawing at the back of your mind that makes you want to double-check the letters.

 

This alphabet was designed entirely with squares in mind, so each letter is constructed using only square and rectangle shapes. These shapes were chosen so that the language has a very continuous and chain-like feel when strung together to create hexscrypt.

Hexscrypt

Fowldyr have developed a unique kind of magic by weaving the Tyrthian language into the shape of arcane chains and imbuing those chains with magic. This type of magic is known as hexscrypt. By removing the spaces and punctuation, the Tyrthian language becomes a continuous string of glyphs. This chain structure allows magic to flow through it, giving the words the ability to carry a spell. The magic flowing through the hexscrypt can cause the text to glow or rotate depending on how the spell is crafted. Due to the endless possibilities of language, hexscrypt has a wide variety of functions and applications and is seen far and wide across the realm of Tyrth.

Hexscrypt has been carved into the Moon Gates that are scattered across the realm of Tyrth, allowing any fowldyr to activate the portals.

There are spells that can be cast on fowldyr vessels that trigger the moment the vessel is broken. The spell will cause a chain of hexscrypt to appear on the body of whoever broke the vessel - like an arcane tattoo.

Hexscrypt is also commonly used to enchant weapons and other objects so that they can gain unique magical abilities that the object otherwise wouldn't have.