Skiff is the native language of Skifander. It is distinct from the common language of Europa and incomprehensible to run-of-the-mill Europans. Very few words of the tongue of Skifander have been uttered ✣ . The only characters in Europa known to speak Skiff are Zeetha, Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, and (much later in the narrative) Ariadne Steelgarter. Speculation extends to Gil having some knowledge of the language but no evidence has been seen.
Uses of Skiff[]
- Zeetha explaining her relationship with Agatha ✣ to people
- The Baron talking ✣ to Zeetha
- Drinking songs ✣
- Steelgarter exclaiming in triumph ✣ as she passes through a Queen's Mirror into Skifander
Written Skiff[]
Ancient written forms of Skifandrian have made occasional appearances.
Decoding[]
No Rosetta Stone for Skiff has been found.
Samples of Skiff resemble those of Geisterspeak. Undoubtedly the Geisterspeak caveat that the language in the text is mere gibberish applies; whether the similarity in gibberish reflects a similarity between the languages themselves or is simply a consequence of the same historian producing the gibberish is unknown, but at least some Geisters are familiar with Skifander (one of Eotain and Shurdlu is familiar with Skifandrian fighting style ✣ enough to best Zeetha ✣ ) lending support to the hypothesis that the resemblance indeed reflects the languages being at least somewhat related such that the historian makes no effort to clearly distinguish them.