Learnable Species Languages

[Threeinone]

This is a pretty simple one, but I thought it could add alot of depth.

Basically, take a couple of languages from the races that other species can mimic, and make it unlockable in the Karma Shop. Stuff like the humans' Sol Common. Of course, there are languages that cannot be replicated with average vocal chords, such as greys' telepathy and the dionas' rootspeek.

From what I've read on the forums, A lot of people have a ton of excess Karma with nothing to spend it on. I wouldn't know what that's like though because of my sub-par RP skills. Point is, This can add a really fun new layer of interaction between players and maybe get some interesting experiences out of it, and people can use some of their karma on fun little stuff. 

The need for it to be behind the karma shop is debatable, but this is the basic idea. Let me know what you think.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Threeinone

[Coldflame]

give people a second elective language and add the ability to interpret racial languages as language options

[WingedYordle]

You can have second elective however interpret seems a little odd. There needs to be a language barrier

[Vissy]

Apologies in advance for my English, I'm still learning. :3

I love this suggestion! However, I'd like to bring attention to one point.

Quote

> Skrellian has few non-native speakers as it can't be reproduced or understood without mechanical assistance

> Comprised of hisses and guttural yelps, Sinta'Unathi is generally difficult, if not impossible, to emulate by most other sentient species

> Siik’tajr is unfortunately impossible to utilize fluently for members of all other known species due to its incorporation of body language and its unique enunciation

> The Kidan language is as fascinating as their naming conventions utilizing not only their vocal apparatus, but also subtle head and antennae movements in addition to clicking, buzzing and even the controlled release of pheromones

Most alien languages are so hard to learn not only because they just use different verbal conventions (as do most languages on Earth now), but because the mediums they use are beyond other species' perception or ability to imitate. If an alien were to learn the inherent language of a species, I'd suggest the following prerequisites:

• It has to be learned it as a secondary language (as a choice among the languages available now - that is, Gutter, Tradeband or Clownish), either for Karma or for free;
• An artificial aid might be required - for instance, a specialised headphone set that can interpret high-pitched sounds, an armband that gives harmless electrical tingles when detecting certain pheromones in the air, an ear-drum replacement surgery done somewhere in the past, a temple bone implant, DNA manipulation surgery, pheromone synthesizer mask, etc. - either for loadout points or coming for free with the language.

Both prerequisites are necessary in order to understand and use the language, of course - an assistant that just "stumbled upon" some nice headphones wouldn't be able to make sense of these weird tones without prior learning and education, while even a proficient interspecies linguist couldn't comprehend sounds beyond their perception without these special headphones they just lost somewhere. Some alien languages, however, might be understood and spoken without a mechanical aid - omitting the second prerequisite, but making fluent use of language more difficult - provided the species are natively capable of understanding and reproducing the sounds/gestures/smells/etc. required.

Even then, just like many species have trouble fluently speaking in GC, speaking other "alien" speeches might be accented as well (probably in a preference-like way, like it's done now with the auto-hissing).

 

What follows are my thoughts about this topic, which should most probably be split to a separate suggestion. I have some ideas about how it all can be implemented, too, but for now I'll keep it to this post and wait for feedback, if any. :3
 

I realise it might be a bit complicated to implement code-wise, but it would make a lot of sense - and play heavily in role-playing favor - if the languages of different species conveyed information in different spectrums, and in order to understand a sentence fully, all these spectrums must be percepted at once. Right now, most languages are just different-colored versions of vocal speech, which is quite an oversimplification that does not play well with the lore. Of course, I don't expect Paradise to follow its lore to the letter, and simplifications are used there all the time -  after all, it's a medium-RP, brisk-paced multiplayer computer game with quite an unserious tone, and many things are just hand-waved. I just think that given that various species-specific alien languages are already a heavy RP aspect to begin with, it could use some more flavoring and in-depth complexity.

Here are two lists, which are hopefully self-explanatory.

The languages:

• Sinta'Unathi, of Unathi. Spectrum: Vocal. Hard, but probably not impossible to emulate by an average human without artificial aid.
• Skrellian, of Skrell. Spectrum: Ultrasound. Can't be reproduced or understood without mechanical assistance.
• Siik'tajr, of Tajaran. Spectrums: Vocal, Body language. Can be understood, but is impossible to utilize fluently for members of all other known species.
• Rootsong, of Diona. Spectrums: Many. Can't be reproduced or understood even with mechanical aid.
• Sol Common, of Human. Spectrum: Vocal. Can be understood and reproduced by most other species.
• Canilunzt, of Vulpkanin. Spectrums: Vocal, Body language. Can be understood and reproduced by most other species.
• Trinary, of IPCs and other synthetics. Spectrums: Sound. Non-organics are incapable of learning to speak or interpret the language in any meaningful capacity.
• Telepathic, of Grey. Not a spoken language, included there for completeness. Spectrum: Telepathy. Can be understood by most organic species (not by synthetics, as their posibrains and other electronics are not affected by... whatever weird spectrum is used for transmitting thoughts), lacks a written form.
• Orluum, of Drask. Spectrum: Vocal. Suggestion: being comprised of hums and loud tones, it is difficult to understand and impossible to reproduce without artificial aid.
• Chittin, of Kidan. Spectrums: Vocal, Body language, Pheromones. Hard to understand and reproduce fully without artificial aid. I have some suggestions, which I can explain later if anyone's interested.
• Bubblish, of Slime People. Spectrum: Vocal. The nature of these bubbling and popping sounds make it difficult if not impossible to successfully emulate the language through natural means. It can probably be understood, though, albeit with a difficulty.
• Vox-Pidgin, of Vox. Spectrums: Vocal, Ultrasound. As many of the vocalizations of Vox-Pidgin are beyond the range of hearing for most species, or simply prove impossible to reproduce for non-Vox, the language is largely shared only between Vox.
• Symbolics of Plasmaman. Not a spoken language, included there for completeness. While Plasmamen' native language has been lost a long time ago, they make rich use of both iconography and symbolism.

The spectrums:

• Vocal. Your average, human-perceptible sounds. Perceptible by all species. Can be transmitted by radio and recorded on tape.
• Ultrasound. High-pitched sounds above the hearing range of an average human. Perceptible by Skrell and Vox. Can be transmitted by radio and recorded on tape.
• Body language. Visual. Perceptible by all species. Can be tapped by videocamera and seen via cameras (maybe even taped, if taping video is ever to be implemented somewhere in the future).
• Pheromones. Unique to Kidan. Cannot be written or recorded, and is beyond natural range of perception of other species. A Kidan is able to "smell" the imprint of a Chittin sentence spoken recently from a particular place, provided there is air and they can smell it.

Languages "spoken" in several spectrums at once often do not require them all to be perceived together in order to understand the sentence. If you can't either see or hear your Tajaran colleague, you'll still be able to get a part of the message, and probably infer the missing parts (/proc/stars(...), anyone?). Some spectrums are more important than others, though: in Canilunzt, for example, body language seems mostly to convey the intents and emotions, so if you can't see the speaking Vulpkanin, you may lose a little bit of punctuation, but if you can only see them, then the message might be utterly undiscernable.

Like I stated before, I have some ideas about how it all can be implemented (I'm a coder myself, so I have some picture about how it could look when programmed in), but for now I'll keep it to this post and wait for the feedback, if any. I don't want to waste a lot of time elaborating on a feature no one wants, but if this piques people's interest, I'd be happy to help making it come to life. :3

Edited May 27, 2018 by Vissy
A bit of elaboration about speaking alien language without artificial aid.