Gasquen and Westerling

Gasquen was the language of the original tribe of Foere from whom Macobert descended. With the spread of the Foerdewaith Empire, Gasquen was picked up in many places to identify with the new overking. But even Macobert himself realized that Gasquen was inadequate to communicate within his growing empire and set about establishing the Westerling military tongue as a vernacular to be used commonly among all his disparate peoples. Gasquen is now found only in isolated areas or noble courts that wish to strongly identify with Old Foere. In the Sundered Kingdoms, the Ramithi, who hate the Heldring influence on the Common tongue, speak Gasquen almost exclusively as a means of emphasizing their cultural identity in the face of generations of invasion of their island.

Meanwhile, Westerling pervaded trade, diplomacy, and soldiering. It was from this last that it spread throughout the continent as Foerdewaith armies marched forth and the local auxiliary conscripts needed a means of communicating with their commanders. Westerling began as something of a pidgin only to develop into a full language and the lingua franca of the West.