Old Tongue

Old Tongue is an old language used by the Voices and early human tribes.

Description
Old Tongue is the language that came before The Song and The Word, used to organize and compel humans and Voices to act, like nerves in a body. It consists of a very precise set of gestures, is highly complex, and carries power beyond the mere transmission of information. According to THEE-I-DARE, Old Tongue consists of "Movement. Music. Number. Time. Complex statements. Many hosts." He also said, "there were no small thoughts. Only actions, reports, corrections" in the times of the First Tribe. Old Tongue requires more than motions; it has other components related to rhythm. THEE-I-DARE stated that Old Tongue requires something "Like singing, no tone. Before music, but like it, performed along with the move. A code. Not awake, but intelligent.” Another interaction stated that the gestures are "Matched with tuneless music felt deep in the chest," suggesting a relation to heartbeat or breath. Unlike The Word and The Song, meanings in Old Tongue are not subject to perspective.

Humans
The Old Tongue may be used against humans to force "minds to fight bodies" or control humans while awake. Human bodies were not meant to resist this as the Old Tongue is originally what organized them. The Old Tongue spoke to the base of the brain and could force humans to do any act, even harm themselves. Some words spoken in Old Tongue can even lead to death in Hosts. However, young people have more ability to resist the influence of Old Tongue than adults. The Old Tongue supposedly "fears youth," as young people's minds are "in constant flux." As an example, members of The Blackout Club can resist biting people while under the effects of The Hunger, despite the curse's origins in Old Tongue.

By and large, humans today have extremely limited ability to use the Old Tongue due to the conflict of The Word and The Song in their minds. However, very rarely, there are humans for whom the conflict between The Word and The Song is "background noise," and can learn the Old Tongue naturally. Such children did exist in Redacre, but they have gone missing, and SEED-THE-GRUDGE is intent on finding them. Siobhan and Nayeli's child is believed to be one of these rare children.

The Voices
Every Voice has a name in Old Tongue that is fixed and immutable. This name is extremely long. To perform the name alone would take weeks and result in the performer dying of exhaustion. As such, names were performed by groups rather than individuals. A Voice's name in Old Tongue has been compared to DNA. The Voices do not know their original names. They each seek to discover their own names as protection, and the names of others as leverage.

If a Host spell out the name of another Voice in Old Tongue, even unwittingly, those Hosts now become hosts to the Voice whose name they spelled. This tactic was notably used by HUNT-THE-STRONG, who fed pieces of his name to DANCE-FOR-US' Hosts in their dreams. These Hosts mimicked the gestures per DANCE-FOR-US' teachings, resulting in DANCE-FOR-US losing all her hosts and being consumed by HUNT-THE-STRONG.

SPEAK-AS-ONE has admitted to knowing HUNT-THE-STRONG's Old Tongue name. According to Grandmother, the Voice knows at least two full names, but deliberately kept them a secret from the Watchers.

All Voices possess some "tricks" they may use with the Old Tongue. DIE-FOR-YOU is known to possess the ability to awaken a suppressed child by pulling them out of The Song, and THEE-I-DARE possesses the ability to fragment himself, resulting in the Name Fragments TBC members searching for across Redacre.

If a Voice consumes another Voice, the consumer absorbs all the consumed's knowledge of the Old Tongue. While Voices can theoretically share knowledge of the Old Tongue using The Place Between, they are reluctant to do so. If one of them possessed all their sum knowledge and was consumed by HUNT-THE-STRONG, this would result in HUNT-THE-STRONG gaining all that knowledge for himself. When the Pact first united, they shared token offerings with each other, but most of the Voices hoard their knowledge of Old Tongue. THEE-I-DARE fears that, once mastered, the Old Tongue could produce "a new, unspeakable god, that relies on no word or song."

With enough knowledge of the Old Tongue, it may be possible to bind a Voice. THEE-I-DARE considers the Cursed Ciphers to be "tiny daggers of meaning" in the Old Tongue and hopes they hold the key to bind HUNT-THE-STRONG with his oldest name. IN-HER-TEETH believes it may also be possible to harness the Old Tongue of the Gorgon curse to combat HUNT-THE-STRONG.

Before the Game
Old Tongue predates all of The Voices and even early human tribes. Prior to the arrival of The Voices, and thus prior to The Song and The Word, the Old Tongue was considered pure.

When the Voices first made contact with humans, they did so by speaking the Old Tongue in dreams. When THEE-I-DARE originally split off from SPEAK-AS-ONE, it was by responding to a question using a phrase in Old Tongue meaning "NOT. I."

SPEAK-AS-ONE said the Old Tongue phrase Strength-Through-Sin is familiar to them. They described it as an ancient strand of Old Tongue from those who demanded blood. The Old Tongue phrase Fault-Thy-Flesh is also from long ago, used as a stepping stone to belief. It was used in longer invocations to remind the body that it is brief. The body was meant to endure the suffering as they performed it. Performing it could kill the host if they were old or sick, even if the Voice didn’t mean to harm the host.

In the past, SPEAK-AS-ONE has used adults to conduct experiments regarding the Old Tongue, to uncover its secrets. However, now they have resorted to using children for these experiments, as has HUNT-THE-STRONG. This development is new and may suggest desperation on the part of SPEAK-AS-ONE.

In-Game
It was initially believed that The Blackout Club would be unable to perform the Old Tongue because of the clash of the Word and the Song in our minds. According to THE-MEASURE-CUTS, the Old Tongue that the Blackout Club can perform now is simplified. Many Voices have asked members of the Blackout Club to show what they have learned regarding the Old Tongue. SPEAK-AS-ONE requires the gesture to be performed in pairs or groups. The Isolated Watcher also required Club members to perform the gestures in pairs in order to understand the meaning of it and share it with Colm Ryan. Colm and Wayka trade Old Tongue within Saturation Control, as Colm seeks to discover how the place works, and knows that Old Tongue is the key. THEE-I-DARE pondered if Old Tongue was currency in Saturation Control.

Someone, possibly a Voice, has shared a wealth of Old Tongue with SPEAK-AS-ONE. As a result, the Isolated Watcher believes that SPEAK-AS-ONE knows the Old Tongue names of at least two Voices. The Voice would not tell the Watchers who this source was.

Some Voices have explained what some phrases mean. NAME-THE-BEAST had two meanings. One was a warning from long ago. SPEAK-AS-ONE explained, "Speak of a wolf, and it will appear at your door." The other meaning was the means to bind it or cage it.

CLAIM-FROM-YOU was apart of DANCE-FOR-US's name in Old Tongue.

Other Gestures
Although not earned from Cursed Ciphers, these gestures are still considered a part of the Old Tongue.

Trivia

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