offensive language in Scarterra

Speaking poopy words from poopy mouths

  In the real world, a lot of profanity and curse involve sex or bodily functions in some way.   For Scarterrans in the year 1837 of the Feudal Age, there is less privacy and modesty than the 21st century real world earth.   Even the upper classes can be pretty blasé about sex, blood, and excretory functions. It's rude to bring up these kind of things during a worship service or royal banquet but jokes and statements we find crude in the real world would barely phase most Scarterrans.  

Swear Words

  Most Scarterrans take oaths very seriously, much like historical real world Europe, in Scarterra, it is considered offensive to take oaths lightly. That doesn't mean Scarterran don't do it. Casual swearing is fairly common.   Casual swearing for petty things is moderately offensive. Casual swearing for petty things in the name of the Nine is even more offensive. But, again it happens a lot.

Profanity

  On some level, profane just means something is not pertaining to spiritual matters. That's not a big deal, 90% of things people do in their daily lives is technically profane. Offensive profanity, much like offensive oaths are when the Nine or anything closely associated with the Nine are talked about in a flippant or disrespectful matter.   Sometimes, a specific body part is invoked. "Hallisan's beard! It took you long enough."   Some body parts are more offensive to invoke then others. Swearing by Hallisan's beard is generally less taboo than swearing by Hallisan's left nut.   The offensiveness also varies by the deity. Regional preferences have a huge impact. Invoking Khemra flippantly is more offensive in the Nation of Khemarok than Kingdom of Fumaya for instance.   In general, Korus, Zarthus, Nami, and Hallisan are assumed to be pretty thick skinned and Greymoria, Phidas, and Khemra are considered to be fairly thin skinned.   Mild Profanity   "By the Nine"   "Nine forbid!"   "As the stars are my witness" (the stars are believed to be where the Nine and the honored dead dwell).   "By Phidas' Mask it will be done!"   "By Maylar's Spear, you are weak!"   "By Mera's Comb, you are clumsy!"   "By Nami's Breath, that's annoying!" (also, the same, one could say "Nami's wind", even though it might imply that the weather is Nami farting, she is pretty thick skinned)   "By Khemra's light!" (not that offensive but remember Khemra is relatively thin skinned).   "Little Moons!" (A euphemism for Zarthus' balls, a little ruder than the others in the mild category but Zarthus kind of likes trash talk )       Medium Profanity   "By Khemra's Compact" (Not as viscerally offensive as others in this category, but to Khemra, the the Compact is sacred. Also, this implies that Compact only applies to Khemra and not all of the Nine selectively.   "By Phidas' ruined face!" (It's not a secret why Phidas wears a mask, but it's not polite to bring it up.   "By Greymoria's Children" (In this case, "Children" means monsters but it's also a dig on her worshipers who call themselves the Children of the Dark Mother".   Severe Profanity   "By Khemra's flaming cunt!"   "By Greymoria's stretched out cunt!" (again a reference to her "Children"   "By Korus' splintery tree!" (tree of course is a euphemism for penis and it's splintered because he plays with it a lot.)   "By Phidas' ruined balls!" (referring to his seeming sterility with favored souls)

Figurative Curse Words

  It's possible, albeit unlikely that if a Scarterran verbally curses another Scarterran that the curse will actually manifest literally.   Because there is a non-zero chance of curses being real, it is a severe taboo to curse people out. This ties into profanity too. Curses invoked with The Nine's names involved are even more taboo because they are even more likely to be rare.