The Othardian Script

Because our beloved Lore and Art teams are absolute lunatics it looks like they've created an entirely new script to use in Doma; a simple substitution cipher for hiragana similar to how Eorzean works for the Roman alphabet.

ETA - JP fandom, thankfully, has already got this mostly worked out.

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I don't think there's enough text in the game yet to get a full syllabary but this is what I've got so far;

(Note - I'm using Kunrei-shiki romanisation for this instead of Hepburn because it makes it easier to follow how many kana you should expect to see.)

KOUBAI GOTEN (紅梅御殿) Shirogane Housing Appartments

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...723dc5da51.png

An apartment sign is a weird sort of Rosetta Stone but this was really helpful because it had こ (ko) and its voiced version ご (go), which in turn lets you know what the diacritic marker looks like, which made it easy to identify ば (ba).

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...dc8310d5c7.png

From there it's easy to figure out the rest of the script.

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...fa4d0d6275.png

BOUKAISEN (望海泉) Kugane Hotsprings

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...887d3a1740.png

This could have also been Boukairou (望海楼), the inn attached to the hot springs, but we've already seen the kana for ん (n) in the sign for Koubai Goten so we know it's Boukaisen.

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...a3c462f82a.png

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...9ec2cdb907.png

. . . Aaaaand that's all I've managed to get for now. Hopefully the JP side of the fandom is also already working on it and is a lot further a long?

(Many thanks to Tenchiko Uitsurugi and Douse Sekkaku of Leviathan for helping me find text examples and putting up with my ranting, this blog for some of the Kanji readings and this reddit post for setting me off on this madness.)

Untranslated In-Game Examples

Shirokaze Hostelry

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...0740ea2c47.png

Mujikoza Theatre

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...7b3700f853.jpg

(The vertical signs on the left and center are probably actor names)

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...414d7970a3.png

Sekiseigumi Barracks

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...8aa349e341.png

House of the Fierce

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...50fdb37c7f.png

Tenchiko pointed out to me that that character on the far-right is probably the the character for "Doma" rather than a kana, given it shows up in banners all over the castle.

Yuzuka Manor (where the Namazu hang-out)

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...2493745ab4.png

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...10eec7b3ea.png

(Hancock's got a copy of this one in his office)

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...306954ee97.png

Gogyo Sokoku and Gogyo Sosei Grimoires

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...15eec6c2c1.png

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...cba07046ab.png

Ways Forward I Haven't Tried Yet Because I Am Hoping JP Fandom Has This Sorted Already

1) Only some kana have voiced versions, a little over half, so if you spot one with a diacritic you'll at least cut out 50% of the other possibilities.

2) Only the "h" group has a half-voiced version and we already know what ほ (ho) looks like. Somewhere out there is a version of ほ with a different diacritic and everything else with that diacritic is also going to be in the "h" group.

3) Only ten kana are used to form diagraphs/compound characters. One character will always be や, ゆ or よ and the other will always be き, し, ち, に, ひ, み or り. Once we figure out what one compound character looks like it'll be easy to spot the rest.

Eh I'll put together a table of known kanji here or something eventually.

My apologies to all for the meager sampling I have to offer as opposed to Merwyn's excellent work, but here are a few more.

The front of the Samurai AF gear
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...89c454f42b.jpg

Lord Zuiko's statue
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...0b41b5c52d.jpg
I like this one because it seems to verify what Merwyn pointed out above. The lefthand line on this sign seems to read "ZU I KO U"

And another example of the character for Doma, this one taken from within House of the Fierce
http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...71566e21f3.jpg

You can also see the Doma symbol in a few other places, such as on Gosetsu's robes (central back mon position, where usually a family crest goes). It also appears in a few other places but that's the first one that comes to mind.

There's this post on the Hydaelyn Roleplayers Coalition forum with some more detail, including what is supposedly the results of Japanese players' guesswork.

Reproducing the relevant image here:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFVwjXvUwAEB8Uz.jpg

Assuming this is correct, the following can be roughly translated:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FJerome

Shirokaze Hostelry

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...0740ea2c47.png

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"Youkoso Kugane he": "Welcome to Kugane"

Quote:

---

Sekiseigumi Barracks

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...8aa349e341.png

---

"Kugane Sekiseigumi": Self-explanatory.

Quote:

---

House of the Fierce

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...50fdb37c7f.png

---

This one I'm not too sure. Given that older Japanese signs are read from right to left, this would be "Doma no Rare-??", since I don't know what the left-most character is.

The rest will have to wait until it's not four in the morning here.

EDIT: Just thought of something: I could be mistaken about the last image being right-to-left.

In that case, it would be "??-rera no Doma".

The first thing that comes to mind would be "Warera no Doma", "Our Doma".

Entirely guesswork, but could that first character be our "wa"?

I love you so much right now, YianKutku, you have no idea :D

Going by the pictures above, the statue then says "Buhen no Zuiko". This is so cool!

The "Doma" symbol is confirmed to be read as such by the Encyclopedia, as opposed to being a crest that simply symbolizes the city; to me, that says that a kanji equivalent exists too, although I highly doubt we'll be getting a complete Hingan equivalent to those anytime soon.

It does raise some interesting questions about spoken language, too; written Hingan (?) is obviously a different language that written Eorzean, but there's never any indication that the spoken language differs, even for those who wouldn't have the benefit of the Echo like Lyse or Tataru. I suppose it can be hand-waved easily enough by saying that every character they interact with happens to be bilingual, though, and it's probably not something that's meant to be looked THAT closely at.

You guys are awesome--thank you so much!

Hinoto-no-Ryuji, I've taken it as a kind of "everyone knows the Common Language" handwave, since other race-specific languages have always been implied with the naming conventions, but you don't actually see characters speaking in those tongues. Also, even before this expansion, a number of Othard-related characters would often say something like "in our tongue, we would say X," where the X would often be a recognizable Japanese word for us. The NIN job storyline stands out to me as an obvious example, because Oboro gives you the password to enter the dojo and tells you not to worry about what it means. XD (I believe it's kaede but it's been awhile. But as a joke I think you have the opportunity to say kaeru instead!)

An update: poking around the net brought me to this Twitter, which has an updated (and much more complete) version of the chart posted by YianKutku:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFp2QQMUAAA7Qc_?format=jpg

Just gotta figure out those last four!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hinoto-no-Ryuji

An update: poking around the net brought me to this Twitter, which has an updated (and much more complete) version of the chart posted by YianKutku:

---

Awesome. Saved.

Thanks for doing the extra digging. (As mentioned, it was four in the morning when I posted, so I figured I'd leave it for the next day.)

With the extra information:

Quote:

---

Yuzuka Manor (where the Namazu hang-out)

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...2493745ab4.png

---

"Akebono", which is probably "曙", meaning "Dawn" or "Daybreak". (I admit this one I know only because of Kancolle.)

Quote:

---

(The vertical signs on the left and center are probably actor names)

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...414d7970a3.png

---

Probably. The large text on the right says "Enja", meaning "performers"/"actors" (演者).

Based on pure guesswork, the top rows of both middle and left batches are roles. Going by the middle top trio, from left to right, are "gakunin" (scholar; our own Scholar Job is "gakusha"), "narita" (this one I have no idea; Googling just gives the airport), and "maibito" (dancer). The left top quartet repeats the same words.

Middle actors (larger font, so stars?):

Gakunin: Fuuran
Narita: Rakuyou
Maibito: Shiranami

Left actors:

Maibito: Kikusui
Narita: Yachiyo
Narita: Ranse-?? (the symbol isn't in the kana chart; possibilities are "nu", "ru", "ro", and "wo". I'm guessing "ru")
Gakunin: Yabusame

Quote:

---

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...306954ee97.png

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Uh, "Mujou Muga"? I know "mujou" would be "無情", meaning "no feelings". "Muga" plugged into the dictionary suggests "無我", which I suppose means "no self"? Therefore, "mujou muga" would be "無情無我", or "no feelings, no self", to roughly translate as "ruthless".

EDIT: Spotted on Discord:

http://i.imgur.com/40L5pFO.jpg

"Omedetou", or "congratulations". By "n" "y". Discord claims the bottom-most symbols are numbers, ie a date: 2017-2-14

Location: the roof of Bokairo inn.

(I love you a lot too right now, Hinoto-no-Ryuji)

Quote:

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Discord claims the bottom-most symbols are numbers, ie a date: 2017-2-14

---

Also, ooooooh, finally, numbers! That's fantastic.

. . . Wait, never mind, those are Eorzean numbers (as seen at the Gold Saucer). I wonder if that's because this is just an Easter Egg or if it's something cooler, like a nod to how Hindu-Arabic Numerals worked out in the real world. It could be that both Eorzea and Othard use Thavnarian Numerals due to mutual trade-links and cross-cultural exchange.

Quote:

---

Based on pure guesswork, the top rows of both middle and left batches are roles. Going by the middle top trio, from left to right, are "gakunin" (scholar; our own Scholar Job is "gakusha"), "narita" (this one I have no idea; Googling just gives the airport), and "maibito" (dancer). The left top quartet repeats the same words.

---

I think those may actually be stage names rather than roles, kabuki acting guild "families" have a set pool of family names they use for their stage names, with actors cycling through them as they advanced through their careers. Narita specifically is possibly a reference to the Ichikawa acting lineage.

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Carrying over the conversation that's currently going on in the reddit thread, we've also got a few kanji we know. Besides the one for Doma there's also;

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...c93c390821.png
人 (jin), Mankind - as seen on the Oriental Wall Scroll (JP description).

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...480e91ce62.png
天 (ten), Heaven - because if symbol for the Jin mudra is a kanji then the other two probably are as well.

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...81e6de2614.png
地 (chi), Earth - same line of thinking as with 天 above.

While i have no grasp of japanese language or the Hingan script i would like to add the sign for Kokajiya for completeness sake.

http://i.imgur.com/Rkd4eck.png

(Thanks, Enur!)

We've found a few more Kanji in the Samurai's Sen Gauge. Thanks again to Tenchiko for the screenshots and also for her fortuitously Gackt-heavy leveling playlist.

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...7e71419070.png

This is 雪月花, ("setsu-getsu-ka" but usually read as "setsugekka" these days) - Snow, Moon, Flowers, a reoccurring aesthetic motif in Japanese and Chinese art.

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...e1552c53c8.png
雪 (setsu), Snow - the design of the handguard is a traditional snowflake shape.

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...b5ef582d8a.png
月 (getsu), Moon - I'm guessing that the main difference between this and the IRL kanji is it looks like it takes five strokes instead of four?

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...d75552d064.png
花 (ka), Flower

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FJerome

雪 (setsu), Snow - the design of the handguard is a traditional snowflake shape.

月 (getsu), Moon - I'm guessing that the main difference between this and the IRL kanji is it looks like it takes five strokes instead of four?

花 (ka), Flower

---

I'm a native speaker of Mandarin/Cantonese. Though highly stylised (especially the kanji for snow), the characters for snow, moon and flower are the same in both Chinese and Japanese. No difference in the number of strokes (four) for getsu (yue in Mandarin).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

I'm a native speaker of Mandarin/Cantonese. Though highly stylised (especially the kanji for snow), the characters for snow, moon and flower are the same in both Chinese and Japanese. No difference in the number of strokes (four) for getsu (yue in Mandarin).

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Sorry if I wasn't clear, I meant the Doman/Hingan version looks like it takes five strokes. The top-most stroke looks like it's a separate stroke from the right-most stroke?

No, I'm saying that the character is exactly the same, be it "Doman", Chinese or Japanese. No difference in the number of strokes.

It's a bit difficult to illustrate without the necessary fonts, so I'll try describing how it's written. The first stroke is the left sloping line. The top-line, right-line and the upward hook is always written as a single stroke. Then there are the two separate horizontal stokes inside the "perimeter" of the outer two strokes.

Hence 月, getsu or yue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

No, I'm saying that the character is exactly the same, be it "Doman", Chinese or Japanese. No difference in the number of strokes.

It's a bit difficult to illustrate without the necessary fonts, so I'll try describing how it's written. The first stroke is the left sloping line. The top-line, right-line and the upward hook is always written as a single stroke. Then there are the two separate horizontal stokes inside the "perimeter" of the outer two strokes.

Hence 月, getsu or yue.

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This is understood. FJerome is describing not the real-life character, but the character in this image - the "getsu" part of the samurai's ingame Sen job gauge.

http://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/acci...b5ef582d8a.png

If you look closely at that image, you'll see that the character looks like an alternative version of the real-life (月) character. Unlike the real-life character (月), this fantasy ingame version appears to have the "top-line" and the "right-line" written as two separate strokes from one another.

I'm with TinyRedLeaf. Those are the real-life kanji on the Sen-Gauge, albeit stylized.

It makes hard to know how to take them. All of the Ninja Kanji are different from their real life versions, and none of the kana really resemble either of the real-world sets, but all of the Samurai kanji are the same? It's not outside the realm of possibility, obviously, but it is a weirdly-outlying case.