Languages

Language in Skryrún is a real barrier, not a label. Tag a passage as written in Undercommon and it renders in Undercommon's script for anyone who can't read it — and in plain text for anyone who can. What a player sees is decided per character, at read time.

Tagging text in a language

Select text in any article and apply a language tag from the editor. The tagged span is stored once; every reader gets the version their character has earned.

Use it for inscriptions, overheard conversation, letters, sigils, ritual text — anything where "can you read this?" is a question worth asking at the table.

💡Tip

Language-tagged text is also a clean way to hide lore in plain sight. A passage in a dead tongue sits on the page for everyone, and only the character who studied it reads what it says.

Proficiency levels

A character doesn't just know or not know a language. Three levels, each with its own behaviour in the portal:

Level	What the player sees
Fluent	The passage in plain text — or in script with hover to translate, depending on their display preference
Conversational	Script by default, hover to translate — they understand some of it
Basic	Script only. They recognise what language it is; they can't read it
None	Script only, unlabelled

Set a character's languages and levels on their character sheet. Character creation suggests starting languages from race or ancestry.

Language families

Related languages share partial understanding. Knowing one member of a family gives a character a fighting chance with its relatives — they catch fragments, and the portal tells them which language they're reading it through.

Each supported system ships with sensible defaults:

System	Families
D&D 5e	Elven, Primordial, Dwarvish, Fiendish
Pathfinder 2e	Elven, Fiendish, Elemental, Darklands
Daggerheart	Fey, Beastkin

Define your own families in world settings. A family you name replaces the default of the same name; the rest are kept.

Custom world languages

Beyond the system's list, define languages that belong to your world. Give each a name and a script font — the typeface it renders in for anyone who can't read it. A world with three empires and a dead priestly tongue should look like it has three empires and a dead priestly tongue.

Custom languages take part in families, proficiency, and session reveals exactly like built-in ones.

Granting understanding during a session

A translation spell, a helpful NPC, an item that whispers meanings — during play, you can hand a player temporary understanding of any language.

Start a session and open the Language Reveals panel on the GM Screen.
Pick the campaign member.
Search for the language and grant it.

Granted languages let that player read language-tagged text on the companion link and in the portal for that session. Grants made in the current session are marked separately from ones carried over from earlier sessions, so you can see what you handed out tonight.

⚠️Warning

This is a temporary grant, not a change to the character sheet. If a character genuinely learns a language, add it to their sheet — otherwise it lapses with the session.

How players choose to read

Each player picks how in-world text is displayed to them, in their profile settings:

Mode	Behaviour
Hover to translate (default)	Shown in script; hover reveals the meaning
Always translated	Shown in plain text wherever their character can read it
Original script	Always shown in script, even when their character is fluent

Players who want the immersion keep original script. Players reading on a phone, or using a screen reader, usually want translated.

Troubleshooting

A player can't read a language their sheet says they know. Check the proficiency level. Basic deliberately shows script only — it means they recognise the language, not that they read it.

Tagged text reads as plain text for everyone. The language tag didn't apply to the span, or the world has no script font set for that language. Re-apply the tag and confirm the language has a font in world settings.

A grant from last session is still active. Grants persist for the campaign member until removed. Open the Language Reveals panel and remove it — the panel marks which grants came from earlier sessions.