The Blah; A Tongue Made Free

[HappyShackles 886]

Urukhai, Hear Me

"For centuries, we have spoken the dialect known as the ‘Blah’. It has become a superficial aspect to our culture, something that has made us unique, fascinating, yet for too long it has made us nearly incomprehensible, and deterred many of the Urukhai whom we considered ‘whitewash,’ whom truly desired to embrace our culture, but simply could not comprehend or learn to speak in a timely manner.

Therefore, by my right as Rex of the Urukhai and Krugmar, I declare that an Uruk's lack of fluent Blah which we have practiced for so long, which in truth is only a bastardized version of common with our own ancestral dialogue inserted only for specific words, no longer designates Urukhai as whitewash.

However, gruk nub that our ancestral tongue is lost. The words we have used for so long, ‘Throm’ka, Lats, Ug, Shara, Uruk, Stout,’ so on. These need nub depart from our speech. Blah them as lats would, as lats have, and gruk that lats shall nub be forced to depart from the fluent Blah lats native, older orcs have been blahing for so long.

And so gruk, Urukhai. Lats may hate me for this, call me whitewash, call me scum. But I do this for the good of all Urukhai.

And for those old Uruks who think they may return to depose me for “abandoning” their tradition (as lats may claim), I ask lats; for what purpose? For what purpose shall you return to depose I, a Rex whom has maintained the sovereignty of a strong, spiritual Krugmar in the face of destruction and usurpation by true whitewash? Is it to return to a tradition that lats have long ago abandoned? And who will take my place, one of lats, who has been gone long and surely will nub remain?

So go. Speak whichever tongue you like; the Fluent Blah or the Common Blah, and gruk, my brothers, that lats shall nub be seen as impure; not by I, or our law."

OOC

The Blah has been considered a large part of Orcish culture for a long time. I appreciate and love the blah for what it is; a true dialect, and the only one on Lord of the Craft. However, I believe that the Blah has been considered (and reasonably so) for too long to be a strong reason or deterrence to playing an Orc, and therefore with this post I am encouraging those who do not feel they fully understand the Blah, or would have difficulty learning or speaking it, to have another shot at it.

This is an experiment, and as with all experiments, is not absolute. Those Orcs who feel that I am abolishing the Blah, please read above; Reksam has proclaimed not that the Blah is abolished, but that those who do not speak Fluent Blah shall not be considered whitewash.

Regarding the argument that orcish tusks are the reason Orcs are forced speak fluent blah with their extravagant accent. That, doesn’t make sense. It may give the an accent, but it certainly won't make them speak the way they do now, with such a severe, nearly incomprehensible dialect.

I encourage this experiment; stick two fingers between your lips downwards touching your teeth, to emulate tusks. Speak.

[mylimo7 409]

"What the hell."

"They don't speak Blah on purpose, it is physically impossible for orcs to speak fluent common tongue because of their tusks.. No longer do these orcs hab honur, lats beh desrwupten the natuwral ordor! Lats dun even hab honur Klomps anymor.. The Krug won't even accept challenges.. Pitiful."

((I don't want to start anything, just my opinion, but this is really dumb. You've changed years of tradition in 2 months and it should of stayed the same

[Maliewyn'divu 21]

Maliewyn'divu mocks the silly orc language.

((I'm fairly sure that most anything tells us if you have big things in your mouth you don't speak right...))

[leave me alone 995]

((Sorry to do OOC on RP thread but... Are you perfectly content with destroying Orc tradition? Is this an attempt to please your inner human player? I fear the current orc leader will soon be lynched...))

[HappyShackles 886]

((I appreciate all of your concerns, this is an attempt to help new orcs or players learn the blah, not to dissolve the blah.

Tradition you may call it, but as explained above consider this an experiment. Consider that before you offer absolute dissent, this has yet to be put into practice longer than an hour!

This was not an uneducated or senseless decision, but one made with careful consideration of the potential risks, and rewards, of making the 'fluent' blah OPTIONAL.

Consider also, that you dissenters above do not play orcs actively. I encourage you to, if you disagree with Reksam's declaration, make an Orc and combat his reforms! Either way, it generates more Roleplay. That is my end goal. Thanks for reading.))

((Edit: Regarding the complaint about tusks. Tusks don't make people spell things phonetically ;P))

[GodEmperorFlam 3447]

((I actually think this is a good thing. Lots of players are driven away by accents, and this would help boost the Orc population.))

 

((Ninja'd... So yeah, what Happyshackles said.))

[CosmicWhaleShark 2488]

((When playing a goblin I would often just not say stuff because I didn't know the Orcish translation for saying whatever I wanted. After about two weeks I was able to pick out stuff again, and recently I'm able to pick up Blah after speaking regularly with Orcs for a few weeks once again. Allowing players the chance to speak common while everyone around them speaks Blah could be useful, then new players can slowly begin to integrate the Blah into their own RP.

 

As an example, I'll use Kha accents. When Kha first started out, everyone was speaking perfectly fluent Common, and well, I wasn't too fond of that. So my character and my character only had an accent for a while. Eventually people enjoyed it and started using Bukaknog's accent in their own RP. A single character eventually effected how an entire race spoke.

 

This is a good move, and it makes Orcs more approachable for new players - or old players who simply haven't been around Orcs. I imagine whenever a whole group is already speaking Blah around you, you'll be inclined to use it in your own RP. ))

[Anderssn 1115]

"I suppose Reksam wants all the uruks united."

((Yes the tusks would affect talking but tusks most likely doesn't change words like talk->blah, you->lats. It means it okay if player, especially new players doesnt have to learn the perfect blah. Basically being more friendly towards new players so it wont be as hard to join together with the other uruk without being called withewash. If you think the tusks would change much it would more likely be like talk->tuhlk, you-> yough or something simlar to speaking with a potato in your mouth.))

[Eetswa 422]

((Sorry to do OOC on RP thread but... Are you perfectly content with destroying Orc tradition? Is this an attempt to please your inner human player? I fear the current orc leader will soon be lynched...))

 

((I have to agree, I found that Blah was an extremely interesting part of roleplaying with Orcs. It made it harder to understand them yes but that also made the Roleplay deeper as you had to prompt them to explain what you they were saying or you had to yourself roleplay with Orcs enough in order to understand their speech well enough. As for it driving people off, then it obviously takes someone very committed to roleplay an Orc and therefore this would more than likely result in a well developed and delightful character rather than those that enjoy chopping and changing characters. All in all I am against this as you're just changing tradition like Throdo said, this is bullsh*t.

[DeliverMyPizza 7]

((Even from the perspective of a new player, this change seems to take a lot away from orcs. Lacking the brutality and oddness of the speech, and the ***** manner of which they delivered words, I found, to add mystery and a slight uneasiness to it all. You seem rather eager to reduce one of the most interesting races on the server, with some rather outlandish and interesting lore to boot, into boring, samey creatures. Just my two cents.))

 

EDIT: ((Why is qu.eer censored?))

Edited October 8, 2014 by DeliverMyPizza

[3VN 136]

((Please stop trying to ruin the orc's unique culture and turning them into green humans.))

[Salvo 1852]

((Sorry, Shackles... Not following you in this...))

[Rivk Zavadsky 700]

*Kertug a whitewash orc far away in his vacation home still speaks balh, he laughs as the orc nation are more whitewash than him now hahaahahah*

[Samson Option 9652]

HappyShackles, perhaps it is time to admit that you aren't going to get any agreement to this idea and accept the reality of the situation.]]

[Swgrclan 2682]

[[ I had often found, as a past Orc and one who is familiarized with Orcish roleplay, that while Blah is an old tradition and trademark of the race that should be appreciated because if it's longevity, should not be demanded of Orcish roleplayers old and new to speak at all times. It's often that some Orcs get very involved with the language, so not only do my characters fail to understand the dialect, but that I struggle to make sense of it as well.

An Orc can speak like a greenskin from Warcraft if he wants to. It will not belittle or degrade Orcish roleplay. Happyshackles' change in this regard is likely more beneficial than not.

*To add, if an Orc is deemed a traitor and whitewash solely for how his words pour from his mouth, there is something inherently wrong with Orcish culture that does not conjoin with it's other pieces. One should br judged by the honor and wisdom of their actions, not their preferred choice of vocalization. ]]