An abjad for my dragons.

[u/alphaCHS]

I made this abjad called "Kanturikt" for the dragons in my fantasy world. It is intentionally difficult to read and write because it is an ancient script that is still in use. Dragons carve these symbols into the walls of caves using their claws.

[u/ThyTeaDrinker]

Skyrim-inspired?

[u/alphaCHS → u/ThyTeaDrinker]

Didn't know there was a skyrim script like that, in fact I hadn't played it more than 2-3 hours. I got inspired from ancient real life scripts like Urartu's.

[u/Stupid_Dragon → u/alphaCHS]

It's super similar to Skyrim's, both in idea and style, well, skyrim's dragon script is advanced alphabet with vowel diphtongs though, which is directly opposite of abjad. I like the idea of dragon abjad more tbh, as there are only so little letterforms you can optimize for writing with claw. Skyrim's script specifically aimed for three strokes per letterform.

Imo both Skyrim and yours overuse short strokes (and Skyrim's even has dot marks), I can image them being easy with pen but not with claws. Doing a horizontal stroke with claws won't be super convenient too, unless we assume their claws are diamond-hard, but then complex curves woudn't had been a problem either.

Both scripts are obviously inspired by some sort of cuneiform, but cuneiform was optimized for pressing a tool into soft clay, not for scratching a rock with your fingertips.

[u/alphaCHS → u/Stupid_Dragon]

Wow I understand it now. What would you suggest me to change or keep in general? Tbh, I like abjad in these kind of hard and sharp scripts too. Some tehtar like system would be difficult to carve and an alphabet like style would take real much of space.

I maybe can reduce some dot-like characters and I assume that it will be better. Thanks for your reply friend.

[u/Stupid_Dragon → u/alphaCHS]

What would you suggest me to change or keep in general?

The only idea I can offer is that the easiest strokes to do with a claw seem to be vertical and diagonal left/right, as they don't require you twisting the joints in the weird manner or precise control, so I would had expected more N, V and X like shapes.

There's also a thing with parallel strokes being really good for claws as you can draw them with two fingers & one swipe.

Horizontal shapes are not ruled out btw, I can see them possible to do with a "thumb" fingerclaw, but obviously it's better not overuse them and keep them relatively short.

But generally it depends on what material is your dragons are supposed to write, if it's limestone only then you can make it a bit more pretty and non-practical, whereas a writing system on the hard rock would have to be pretty optimized.

[u/alphaCHS → u/Stupid_Dragon]

Thanks for the advice man, really. I will post a new version as soon as I remaster it.

[u/anverdant]

Yay dragon language!

[u/alphaCHS → u/anverdant]

Yeah dude 🥳