Ghyll:Modern Standard Ghyllian
Modern Standard Ghyllian has been codified and derived from numerous sources including the languid, liquid language of the Looliers, the obtuse, and somewhat obscure, Olkuull, and the unwieldy, unglamorous Untch. Of course, Olkuull has been almost entirely swallowed by the more popular Standard Ghyllian and is now spoken by just a few rather "intense" hermits who herd semi-domesticated graphorn who were made quite infamous by Ibaan Malmiz in his quest to translate the Grimporke Grimoire. Untch, of course, is familiar to Occultologists as a veritable lingua franca of hidden lore.
The earliest source of Modern Ghyllian is believed to be the journal of an unnamed traveler, dated to -90 EC, currently in the possession of the Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge. The journal, which details said traveler's journey through the Cactus forests, contains a mixture of unusual spellings and phrasings which are, of course, Early Somewhat Irregular Ghyllian. However, the professors at the Bureau became so engrossed with this work that they began to speak in the manner in which they were written.
However it has only been recently that Modern Ghyllian has been poked, prodded and pushed into Modern Standard Ghyllian. It was during the Bureau's investigation that the Brothers of the Lantern became alerted to the possibility of standardizing something new, which has always been their secret goal. This effort was later aided, in secret, by Wilhelmina Corinne Bardway, who apparently felt that the only way to achieve a so-called "Great Awakening" was a Modern Standardized language. So, toward that end, she became a go-between for the Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge and the Brothers of the Lantern, all the while promoting her own secret agenda. Just like a woman. Always off skulking about with their plotting and such. Why it wouldn't surprise me if she started the whole project just to boink the up-and-coming Meldersen! Why, that'd be just like a woman! In fact, these two were known to write letters to each other, of a rather mysterious and undetermined nature, in this very new Modern Ghyllian. It was this process of writing back and forth, which at the time they claimed was "research" on the Cactus forests, that has been credited for the initial standardization. Other researchers, being both curious and jealous of these two highly intelligent and secretive lovers, began to use similar language in their own writing. Then, these rascals began speaking this way! If you can imagine, speaking as one wrote. The very idea! And, indeed, this very idea proceeded to disseminate throughout the land, and is now the usual spoken tongue.
Citations: Bureau of Forgotten Knowledge, Great Awakening, Wilhelmina Corinne Bardway.
--Doctor Phineas Crank 21:31, 5 Jan 2005 (EST)
