You may have noticed that I’ve paused in the production of the “historical atlas” for the Great Lands.

The reason is essentially linguistic. I was coming up with a lot of off-the-cuff names for languages and places, and the results were starting to annoy me. So finally, a few days ago, I bit the bullet. I started working through a piece of the constructed-language program that I’d been putting off: developing sound-change sets to generate several related languages.

I always intended to do this, eventually.

My first constructed language was Tremara, the language spoken by Krava’s people. The initial development of Tremara involved building a Proto-Indo-European-like ur-language, and then applying a consistent set of sound-change and orthographic laws to get the results I wanted. This way, I knew I could quickly develop more constructed languages, plausibly related to Tremara, if I needed them in the story. I always suspected I might need at least two such languages:

• One for the pseudo-Hellenic people who dominate the “Sunlit Lands” in the south, where Krava will be traveling in the second and possibly third novels of the series.
• One for the “northern barbarians” who play a background role in the first novel and are likely to appear more frequently later.

Now that I’m building this “historical atlas,” however, I find I already need at least a few names from those two languages (and possibly a few more). So time to bite the bullet, and build the rules that will generate vocabulary for them.

I’m not finished quite yet, but the results so far have been interesting. Here’s part of a table of comparative vocabulary that I’ve been building for testing purposes:

Original Word	Meaning	“Hellenic”	“Northern”	Tremara
h1dhemedhh2es­	“child of the earth, human”	hethemethas­	demedaz	athemetha
h1reyyh3es	“king”	herezos	reyyoz	araio
h2erdhh3em	“plow”	arthon	ardom	ardom
h2ertay	“tribesmen”	artai	arthay	artai
h2remas	“hero, man”	haremas	remaz	arama
bheh2ay	“cattle (plural)”	phāi	bāy	bai
bhrewh2em	“bread”	phrean	brewam	brevam
dh2enas	“man”	danas	tanaz	dana
deh3wwelkas	“dark wolf”	dōelkas	tōwwelxaz	duvelka
dheh2n	“tree”	thān	dān	dan
dreh3dheh2n	“sacred tree”	drōthān	trōdān	druthan
gwenas	“woman”	denas	kunaz	bana
keh2rdh2enay	“all men”	kārdanai	xārtanay	kárdanai
kelth2er	“smith”	keltar	xelthar	keltar
kelth2ermeh2ras	“smith-folk”	keltarmāras	xeltharmāraz	keltarmara
kh2epem	“slave”	kapen	xaphem	kapem
kh3elmh3es	“priest”	kolmos	xolmoz	kolmo
keh3lh2em	“burial mound, kurgan”	kōlan	xōlam	kolam
keh3ras	“horse”	kōras	xōraz	kora
kwekweres	“wheel”	teteres	hweherez	kukurë
kreh2was	“raven”	krās	xrāwaz	krava
leh3kas	“flame”	lōkas	lōxaz	loka
meh2ras	“host, tribe, folk”	māras	māraz	mara
meh3rweh1ras	“great warrior”	mōrēras	mōrwēraz	murvira
merh2	“sea”	mera	mer	mara
merh2eh2ry	“those of the sea”	merāri	merāry	merari
merweh1ray	“northern warriors”	merērai	merwēray	mervirai
neh2ghes	“power, magic, sorcery”	nākhes	nāgez	naxë
neh2keh2les	“lord’s hall, feasting hall”	nākāles	nāxālez	nákalë
nesah2ry	“those of Nesa”	neāri	nezāry	nesari
newbhas	“bride”	nephas	newbaz	nevba
peh3tas	“lord”	pōtas	phōthaz	pota
reh3keh3rh3es	“chariot”	rōkōros	rōxōroz	rókoro
reykas	“settlement, village”	rezkas	reyxaz	raika
senh2dhay	“ancient ones, elves”	henathai	senaday	sanathai
steh2nh2er	“standing stone”	stānar	stānar	stanar
tekwas	“horse”	tepas	thehaz	teku
trenmeh2ras	“mighty folk”	trenmāras	threnmāraz	tremara
weh1ras	“warrior, man”	ēras	wēraz	vira

I think I have one or two more days’ work to do on this before I can go back to the map series. At that point, I’ll probably start by revising previous maps. I have some ideas about how to improve the graphic design there, as well as clean up the bits of constructed language. I still think I’m on track to produce the finished “atlas” this month, at which point it will be released to my patrons.

Then a little more world-building and mapping, and it will be time to get back to the second draft of The Curse of Steel . . .