Talk:Orrian syllabary

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Translation possible?[edit]

After having drawn up most of the runes in Photoshop, I'm beggining to understand why this was hard to use and to QA test. The combinated use of runes is a very interesting one, but it doesn't feel consistent. Like the c symbol is mostly used horizontal when in combination with other runes (e.g.Orrian syllabary RE.png&Orrian syllabary LE.png), while the "base" for it Orrian syllabary E.png is faced downwards - if that even is the base symbol.

Does the height mean anything: Orrian syllabary SE.png? What about the direction, e.g. Orrian syllabary VE.png here they're faced the other way compared to the examples above. Orrian syllabary TE.png seems to be using an upwards faced c. And both that one and Orrian syllabary BE.png only uses one c. Does that mean anything?

It all just feels very random. I presume the various looks are purely for artistic reasons, but the combinations surely has to be of some importance, right? The more I dig into this, the less I understand. :P Titus The Third User titus the third.png 21:42, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

On a random thought, I counted up how many runes we should end up if it's a fully fleshed grid by your set-up, with no additional rows or culumns. The result is 56. A quick google searched turned up Abkhaz as having 56 letters. Konig 05:57, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

dead link[edit]

The forum link is dead, probably due to the forum reorganization that just happened. If someone (Titus?) could update it, that would be great. —Dr Ishmael User Dr ishmael Diablo the chicken.png 13:12, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Fixed. – Valento msg 13:18, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

similar to...[edit]

The writing system is very similar to Hangul, the Korean alphabet, in that there is a distinct symbol for each vowel and consonant sound, but they are grouped together to form a single symbol per syllable. The obvious difference is that in Orrian, the consonants can be written on their own since it's used to transcribe English, where we have crazy consonant clusters.

Also, it's not really a translation at all because the words and sounds the symbols represent are still English. It's no different from New Krytan or Asuran in that respect. —Dr Ishmael User Dr ishmael Diablo the chicken.png 02:00, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Such a similarity was made on the official forums prior to translation/deciphering. Konig 04:44, 19 December 2014 (UTC)

Reference to "Ozymandius"[edit]

I know that Titus believes the reference to Shelley's Ozymandius to be a "very far stretch", but it immediately came to mind for me and clearly to many other players on Reddit. Looking at the use of the syllabary in-game and in the language and message of the syllabary, it seems to me like a very obvious reference. Veron (talk) 21:45, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

"Ozymandias" - Titus User titus the third.png 02:07, 3 May 2015 (UTC)
I'm sorry for the blunt rejection of your first edit. Didn't mean to be rude or anything. I love Ozymandius, it's a wonderful sonnet! And I agree 100 % that it has a very similiar feel to it. It was pointed out on the forums as well just after the translation was made. But it isn't a direct copy, and that's why we can't state it as a fact here on the wiki. ("may be", not "is) :)
P.S. Just for fun, I made an Orrian translation of Ozymandius before Christmas. I'll see if I can get it scanned and uploaded one of these days. Seems there might be some interest for it :) Titus The Third User titus the third.png 23:16, 14 January 2015 (UTC)

Rendering of double letters[edit]

I've noticed that in Medina's Orrian syllabary, the one instance of a double letter followed by another consonant has a unique format; the double letter in "matthew" is represented by one full-size T and then another half-size T tucked in right beside it. However, on each Wiki page with Orrian text that I've seen (for example, in a rendering of the word "Orr"), the double letters are simply repeated twice at their regular size, even when followed by a consonant. (This doesn't seem to apply to double letters followed by vowels, as in the syllabary's "orrian", because the vowel modifies the consonant behind it into a different character).

I've done some searching and haven't found anything on Orrian writing conventions. Is following/ignoring this apparent rule a technical or stylistic decision, or something else?

(As a side note, if there are any remaining communities with an interest in the writing systems in this game, I'd be keen to get involved.) Sathgirus (talk) 07:13, 1 November 2021 (UTC)

While i can't tell if the behaviour of shrinking subsequent letters is something that applies to all of orrian (e.g. applies to also what is found in game (i haven't had a look at orrian in game so far)) or if it's only found on the reference image at the start of this article, but if it were indeed a thing then it would seem the reference image would lack a precise way of how to handle those cases for all letters or if it even applies to all cases. So it might be that it's indeed a thing; though it would be one that wouldn't be well defined.
As for wiki rendering; that would be for technical reasons. The wiki templates outputting in game writing systems do so in a series of images, which are all of the same size and same alignment and so wouldn't represent such changes in size. It could maybe be doable insome way, but for the moment the templates aren't capable of such a task. (And orrian specifically had no template for text so it were/are simply raw images listed in the source, which likewise wouldn't be capable of changing sizes and position as would be needed if it is indeed a thing part of the writing system. (Though likewise might be able to be changed appropriatelly with e.g. css, though i wouldn't know how off the top of my head.)) Nightsky (talk) 09:41, 2 November 2021 (UTC)