Words have power. Words bring order. Words offer shared meaning to our world and our existence.

Words project passion, for good or ill. Words forge nations and tear them asunder. Words are fired first, before any shots in war and words lead us to times of peace. Words of great people are remembered while the untold stories of the masses become dust.

And, like the masses, words too can be forgotten. Venerable words are still vulnerable to erosion by time and entropy.

We are able to glean some shadow of their lost meaning. That is but a frail facsimile of what they conveyed to the people who spoke or wrote them however. Even now, some meaning is often lost from one language to another. My words here may be translated and some of the intended nuance may be lost in that process.

What then happens when entire languages and time periods are lost, leaving us to fumble about in the dark as we attempt to dissect that which we cannot relate to… because we have not the words.

Excerpt from “Languages Lost” by Sully Indigo Romano

“You’re wondering why I’ve been gone so long, where I’ve been, and why you’re here.”

Five of my friends sat around the table as we had done so many times before, ready to sling dice and slay monsters. They each nodded while looking at me with a mixture of happiness, confusion, and shock.

Can’t really say that I blamed them. I disappeared a few years ago without so much as a ‘goodbye’. An unfortunate consequence of my own curiosity and sense of adventure.

“Before we get into that, let me begin with an apology.” I couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh. Haven’t been nervous like this talking to people in a while. They should understand my reasoning once I’m done telling them what happened though. “I should have at least sent word that I would be leaving for a bit. Though I really had no idea when, or if, I would be back.”

“It’s all good Sully.”

“Yeah, we’re just glad to have you back.”

“And now you can tell us about your grand adventure, digging up whatever it was in some ancient ruins.”

I laughed at that statement. A real, full belly laugh. Couldn’t stop. It was not an inaccurate assessment of what I had been doing I suppose. I had to wipe the tears from my eyes and calm down before continuing on, “I’m definitely going to tell you all about it. This time was a bit different than most others though.”

It was not that uncommon for me to ‘disappear’ for months at a time. Half a year or more was in the realm of possibility. This had been my longest stint away though, and for far different reasons. I had the forethought to send a letter to the family attorneys and accountants but that was it… because I didn’t want to lose my house.

“In the past I’ve gone all over the world working one dig or another. Sometimes going through well documented sites to see things for myself. I’d spend weeks in foreign libraries pouring over ancient texts.”

The crew sat there, dice in hand as it were, ready for a game. Tabletop adventurers, as always. It was comforting to see that little had changed with them.

Running them through this adventure was going to be fun. I knew my smile was growing, mischievous and somewhat prankish. “Instead of boarding a flight this time, I never left my house.”

Before anyone could even ask I had my hand up, gesturing that they needed to wait. “First, you each need to decide on your character and start rolling that up before I continue. There is a primer guide for you with this ‘home baked’ game of mine. You can also choose to play yourself, yourself with some changes, or a new character entirely. Your call.”

I passed out character sheets, a printed out quickstart guide, and a setting primer to each of them. “Everything you need is there. While you’re working on that, I’ll kick off this tale.”