Questions

[WB - Water's Blessing]

I always assumed the culture and language penalties represented the difficulty of working through translators, not the difficulty of working without them. They're too small for that, anyway.

I also don't think it makes sense for a realm to be diplomatically paralyzed because its regent isn't a polyglot. Not knowing the language of your liege could be an issue, but mostly because they'd have the option of making an issue out of it.

Court level does include diplomacy check penalties, for what little that matters.

I do think it makes sense, though for a realm to be diplomatically paralyzed because its regent doesn't have anyone of note in the court that is a polyglot. Most people are not moving around a whole lot, and wouldn't have much need to speak lots of languages. Heck, most people will be illiterate, much less trained in multiple languages. So, finding skilled, educated people who can speak multiple languages would, I think, not be something taken for granted. Especially with the size of the populations that we're talking about -- a province 2 has a population of about 6,000 people. Even a "massive" size 3 province (which is as big as they get right now) has a population of about 12,000 people -- the size of a pretty small town today. It's entirely plausible that, if the leader or their close advisers, who are the educated, rich people of the realm, can't do it that nobody can.

[TH - The Hunt]

Maybe. But if someone can get a job with the only qualifications required being 'can read/write these two languages, and maintain integrity' and be paid as much for an hour of work as the village smith gets paid for working 90 hours, that's not a small thing, either to attract a skilled immigrant or to persuade someone to spend a year or two learning. We know our regents find people like that to work as informants and merchants already, just in the course of regular domain actions.

[MS - Meaghan Smith]

EDIT: Plus, it opens up more RP opportunities. If you don't speak a language you need, and you don't have any LTs that do, then you would need an intermediary to pass along the message for you -- which creates opportunities for shenanigans and skulduggery, which is always good for a game.

Was a lot of fun trying to adventure with Olaf and Arawn when we couldnt discuss plans

[BB - Bronzebeard]

This is a fantasy world. How many realms don't have a mage LT? And even those that do can find at least 1 mage with integrity. The mage cast first level spell Comprehend Languages, and presto instant translator for whatever language you need. Easily deals with regent to regent level communication needs. Dealing with an action in a province that has another language, is a different level of need.

[MS - Meaghan Smith]

Having worked with translators and such for far too much of my life -- if the USGovt has difficulty filling these slots, it is only going to be more pronounced when dealing with a bunch of refugees fleeing an Unseelie invasion.

The best and brightest likley weren't the ones on the boats, they were the ones with money, influence, and/or the right degree of skull-duggery and thuggishness to get out alive.

And LTs and vassals aren't always trust-worthy (see Vash or Malinda), they have their own beliefs and agendas that are often not accounted for but which would drive a number of things which a regent wouldn't desire or anticipate (Cardinal Richelieu is a prime example).

[WB - Water's Blessing]

I suspect lots of realms don't have mage LTs. But, even in that case, that just helps with understanding languages, not producing information in them.

But yes, I'm on the exact same page with RS on this one. I think language and communication would be a lot harder than a lot of us assume. That's why a dominant language is so valuable -- people can learn one and use it to talk across lines. That's part of the value of priests of Mats and the Architect -- they actually can serve as capable translators pretty effectively in certain circumstances (weird languages and human languages, respectively).

[MS - Meaghan Smith]

And as an aside, there is a distinct difference between an interpreter (tends to be spoken) and a translator (tends to be written). Given the clear lack of NWPs most people have in a subsistence level economy (efforts focusing on surviving such as agriculture, hunting, weaving, etc), few and far between will be the ones with extra languages and/or literacy.

If you aren't a spell-caster, who took Reading/Writing? Probably very few. Many may have wanted to, but choosing skills which would help their realm survive past turn 1 were probably much more highly valued.

This is the Dark Ages. We've lost access to all of the spells and technology of old and are basically starting from scratch once more. When you're rushing out of the burning village with the Hegemony troops hot on your heels, you don't necessarily wait for the elder with the books, or everyone else on the longship may not have a chance to live.

[TH - The Hunt]

Travelling thousands of miles isn't something you do 'out of a burning village with troops hot on your heels'. I think there'd be plenty of educated people on board the ship, I'd even say most of the refugees would be upper and middle class. Not that their educations would do most much good, on arrival.

Even if the literacy rate is 1%, that's more than a hundred people who would only have to learn a second alphabet at most. Even in the Dark Ages, 1% of the population was clergy.

[DM Juan]

Generic priests of the architect would speak multiple human languages, so human lands probably have someone who speaks most human tongues around. But random humans who speak goblin? Unlikely... Who speak any other non-human? Probably unheard of

[DM Juan]

To clarify.. No 1 generic priest speaks 5 langs. I meant between the 10 clergy of the architect, 4 are probably priests and each probably speaks a couple languages.