Nov
1st
2017
NaPoWriMo has begun! · 9:42am Nov 1st, 2017
Just got finished with my first 1,683 words that serve as the jumping off point for the next leg of Alicornae! Also, as a way to say thanks for your patience (and to supplement the next chapter), I thought I'd give you a look at Starlit's cutie mark since I haven't actually described it up until now (or rather, the section I just wrote).
Thanks again for all the kind words and encouragement, and here's to a successful November!
(Edit: Glyphs were changed from Urdu to Avestan script)
(Edit of the Edit: The script now actually says something in English: "By the strength in my body and the magic in my veins I decree this place protected in the name of myself and my ancestors amen")
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PortalJumper · 251 views
· Story: Alicornae: The Legend of Starlit Sky
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What's the writing around the edge? I mean, I assume in universe it is referring to the appearance of the protective circles she is talented at placing around her family's home, but I'd like to know more about the script/alphabet used and whether it means anything IRL.
It has a similar form to Arabic, but only as individual characters, not words.
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The script is Urdu, which is what Arabic is written in. It ultimately doesn't say anything, it's just strings of letters and punctuation. I don't know enough about Arabic or Urdu to structure a sentence in it properly but I needed something as a stand in for the glyphs since I can't do a custom font on my iPad. If you know any way I could do that I'd be much appreciative since using a foreign alphabet as a stand in for magical characters is kind of insensitive.
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Sorry, I can't help there. Although you might be able to find a language that is not in modern use; it would be less insensitive to use that, and some such languages might be in the Unicode standard.
(Also, while the Urdu alphabet is a descendant of the Arabic alphabet, they are not the same. Wikipedia tells me the Urdu alphabet is only used for the Urdu language, which is mainly restricted to Pakistan.)
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Runes is one option for a dead language/script that is in Unicode, although it would mean replacing the flowing Urdu with stark Runic characters.
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I do like the flowing nature of the Urdu script, but I don't know if there's any other language or script that has that same sort of look to it. Possibly Pictish Swirls, but even then that looks a tad too primitive for the aesthetic I'm going for.
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Look through this list, and pick out the scripts that have an N in the rightmost column. One of them might fit what you're looking for.
http://www.unicode.org/cldr/charts/latest/supplemental/languages_and_scripts.html
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Found the Avestan script which is both uncommon and fits the aesthetic perfectly! Thanks for the tip, I'm gonna use this website more often