Language and Literacy (Communication)

The term “Language” is used to define, in a simple manner, a mode of communication – Language need not be spoken/verbal/sound means. Each language a character knows will have a [Skill] rating of their capability in using it. It is the foundation communication and Social actions. Language use follows the Levels of Knowledge in terms of how much each level is employed by speakers. A Native Speaker is part of the society the character was predominantly raised in, or assimilated into. Not only is the language itself understood, but the social and cultural references and context. An Actuated Mind has access to many modes of expressing communication, like language.

    Learning/Acquiring this Capability and Related Aspects    

Acquiring/REQ: CP cost as skill or Inherent by Species.

The Basic Communication feature covers a character’s starting spoken languages and literacy. A character can learn a number of languages in addition to their basic ones equal to their Reason modifier before it requires a Average Difficulty Reason check to have the right mindset. Failures may be re-checked after a moment of Actuated Awareness.

The process of communication takes steady practice and immersion. Without such, it is a struggle to grasp nuances and explore concepts. Repetition, focus, and study pass into memory and you find success in communicating ideas and expressing yourself more and more.

Skill measure of {a language} for any given individual is measured in the normal skill range but assessed using the practice scale.


Practiced Communication

  1. Familiar: Simple phrases and words – Go that way; Go long ways; Was dark; Less of half a day [sun’s passage]; Sunrise or Sunset; Young or Old
  2. Competent: Rudimentary full sentences; Technically good enough to have basic back and forth conversation, it may take extra time to process and/or work out accents and colloquialisms.
  3. Accomplished: Complete Fluency – rapid back and forth conversation with complex ideas; default for native speakers.
  4. Expert: Communicators are those who are Fluent, and well practiced in elocution and rhetoric.
  5. Master: Master communicators are those who can communicate in lofty terms, ways that evoke emotions and imagery (or its equivalent) as part of normal communication. The greatest poets, writers, bards, and interlocutors use compositional techniques like rhetoric and superb and sincere elocution to immerse listeners of all kinds and are deeply persuasive to their cause.

Literacy and Recorded Communication

Literacy/Written/Recorded Communication: This reflects how well communication can be achieved when recorded – it is usually the same as the “Spoken” version of a language unless it draws heavily on symbology and conceptual expression over strictly phonetic. Not all languages have a literary accompaniment. Many literary elements are derived from other regional influences or even wholesale adopted from other languages if it was not evolved with the physical expression.

Understanding Records: For languages, it is the spoken sophistication they are capable of, for a literary work, it is, essentially, a “reading level”; A character capable of speaking at one level often writes as a lower level to be more approachable to a wider audience. A character accessing a body of knowledge must have a practice level of understanding equal to the reading level it is recorded in for it to be fully comprehended.

Need ideas for role-playing this? See the Roleplaying your Character's Capabilities or ask the Game Master how it is best expressed in your Setting.No matter what restrictions exist in the setting you use, many GMs will allow anything with the right context or character backstory.