Editor’s Note: During the process of writing the Kingpriest Trilogy, Chris Pierson created a new language, Church Istaran, that was used extensively throughout the series. The following are his notes and a list of vocabulary 2,900 words long that he used as a reference during the composition of these novels. The Nexus would like to sincerely thank him for sharing his notes with the Dragonlance fan community. Enjoy!

All letters are pronounced; there are no silent letters in Church Istaran.

A = short a, as in father
E = short e, as in bell (if last letter in word, long a, as in pay).
I = long e, as in steer.
O = long o, as in alone.
U = long oo, as in cool.
AI = long i, eye.
AO, AU = ow, as in flower.
EA = long a (pay) + short a, as in “San Andreas.”
EI = long a.
EU = y + long oo, as in feud.
IA = long e + short a, as in fiat.
IE = long e + long a, as in pietat.
II = long e, held longer than normal.
IO = long e + long o.
IU = long e + long oo.

B = b, as in boy.
C = k, as in color (this is never pronounced like an s).
D = d, as in dark.
F = f, as in fall.
G = g, as in god (this is never pronounced like a j).
H (rare) = ch, as in Scottish loch.
L = l, as in last.
M = m, as in monk.
N = n, as in never (before c or g, ng, as in thank).
P = p, as in part.
QU (rare, from loanwords only) = qu, as in queen.
R = r, as in rust.
S = s, as in sorrow.
T = t, as in tall.

Word Order

• Istaran uses the word order subject-object-verb. Thus, the sentence “Edso loves you” would actually read “Edso tam probat” — “Edso you loves.”
• Modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) follow the word they modify. Thus, the phrase “red dog” would actually read “confo ruf” — “dog red.”
• Prepositions precede the phrase they modify. Thus, “over the bridge” would remain “uban frigo” — “over bridge” (see below for what happens to the “the”).
• There is no definite article in Church Istaran; any instances of the word “the” should be removed. Thus, “the sword” would simply be “follo” — “sword.”

Nouns

• Nouns typically end in o in their subjective form (as found in the dictionary). This ending changes to am if the noun is an object, or to as if the noun is plural (singular or plural).
• Possessives come before the possessed noun, and take the ending as (singular) or asom (plural). Thus, “sword of kings” would take the order “fricasom follo” — “kings’ sword”.
• Comparatives (e.g. “stronger”,”larger”) take the ending ior. Superlatives (e.g. “stronger”, “largest”) take the ending iot. Thus, strong/stronger/strongest = trite, triteior, triteiot, and large/larger/largest = ugen, ugenior, ugeniot. Some irregular words, like “better” and “best”, have their own special forms (“sel” and “fid”).
• Pronouns are not normally used in the subjective case, unless they are meant to be emphatic — “I love you” would simply be “tam probo” — “you love” — with the “I” being understood based on verb conjugation, but “I love you,” stressing the I, would remain “ec tam probo” — “I you love”. Pronouns are:

Verbs

• Verbs typically end in um or ium in the infinitive (as found in the dictionary).
• Verbs have three tenses — present, past, and future. Other tenses, like past imperfect (e.g., “he was running”), are handled by surrounding words, as in English/Common; these tend to be the verbs obum (“have”) or fum (“be”).
• Conjugations for the three tenses are as follows (all are word endings):

• Past participles take the ending eas.
• Gerunds take the ending eis.
• The imperative takes the ending ud (singular) or udo (plural).
• If the verb’s infinitive ends in “ium” retain the i before all vowels but i — e.g., omitio, “I forge”, but omitim, “I forged”.

Example verb conjugation:

scritum (to walk)
I walk, you walk, he walks — scrito, scritas, scritat
We walk, you walk, they walk — scritamo, scritato, scritant
I walked, you walked, he walked — scritim, scritis, scritit
We walked, you walked, they walked — scritimo, scritito, scritins
I will walk, you will walk, he will walk — scritu, scritos, scritit
We will walk, you will walk, they will walk — scritimu, scrititi, scritint
I have walked, you have walked, he has walked — obo scriteas, obas scriteas, obat scriteas
We have walked, you have walked, they have walked — obamo scriteas, obato scriteas, obant scriteas
I am walking, you are walking, he is walking — fo scriteis, fas scriteas, fat scriteas
We are walking, you are walking, they are walking — famo scriteis, fato scriteis, fant scriteis
Walk! — scritud! (to a single person); scritudo! (to a group)

Example (Canticle of the Dragon)

Glossary

The following is a glossary of Church Istaran words paired with the English translation. The list is sorted by the English word.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S