D&D Name and Language Generator

This package is a fantasy language generator. By defining a number of characteristics about your imagined language -- the graphemes, their relative frequency distributions, the construction of syllables, and so on -- you can generate random but internally consistent gibberish that feels distinct, evocative, and appropriate to your setting.

Usage

The fanlang command-line utility supports three commands:

• names: generate names
• text: generate a paragraph of text
• list: list the supported language in the current language pack

Examples:

% fanlang --language=dwarvish names --count 5
Tiny Châ Pothesadottyr
Khâkhu Zhûdothir
Quiet Ke Vêdothir
Cû Tozhon
Big Pâ Thadottyr

% fanlang --language=dwarvish text
Cû ne do tho khâ tasha, vê wûva lû, ku phu thâ thê, tûko kê, pevo kâ têtetv zha 
pataso keks khate? Fâ zhû shû yf pho pa me. Dupha dê thê khâ! Shikm tu! Cê 
sâdêto. Dê yo nâ topho, my sû pida phe, vi phûtw châcho, po sotê?

% fanlang list
Abyssal        : Eshshishsee zozsuwhoshsh asaawheeziwh! A..whoszoshs ssaswhsu..o
Celestial      : Ȯoiüöueîîoäuüeêiûȯ, ouịeüêoäaüaėu̇üoäuau âüiûeėûeuäuiüêuäaịii,
Common         : Uemson noffom, eelom lesyoe exori emaah? Sytteel eudd liiom! Exemooaf
Draconic       : Vysisa kseeseg ksotsaa' dseyhk yz'sax, 'sosuu'h lsitv dj'sih sir'seed
Druidic        : Iagh tiama gih mi'allus? Laanog i heisoh lapt, uuch auh nu ta'ullug
Dwarvish       : Nûzhewt co. Phûbê pâpp pûzhûde bî tho di dakf, kâ mû che pe nezhûphû
Elvish         : Vyöua ycrem mluwre yrhyi syüstem? Uufyias eotdyian fleoe, eswoawyia
Gnomish        : Di buae haui se miue taui nue, pue heo ruoe puoy roea, hauy diua mey
Halfling       : Pelee fipo'we'nei, se'hovololi'y, rare'ri'ti'myo ja'to'lilae nybe'wao,
Infernal       : Po p'daod p'kyid bou t'yagio k'pub x'opuj, p'nba jibi z'eux p'jaabu
Lizardfolk     : Roast, malic orange earth. Grain musty coconut! Raspberry peanut meat
Orcish         : Chuche cebru hiko tuma, zutup brumef fubrok cozb ciko, cokot fochi
Undercommon    : Tniwus, aldupun sqiluth rivujel gijäxaa, aäuyäutäs vixälat vükäe

% fanlang list --names
Abyssal        : Zwhoshwhshwhe
Celestial      : Aȯîaûuêeäuêaaüuịäu̇
Common         : Nana Zeborg
Draconic       : Jsois
Druidic        : Duullih
Dwarvish       : Thi Vudottir
Elvish         : Smoöbd am Dwesm
Gnomish        : Tue Nio
Halfling       : Fybobo'ga'jo'a Da'ro'y Byna'ba'e "Gallant"
Infernal       : Edmius
Lizardfolk     : Floral Maple Syrup Phrenolic
Orcish         : Dih Buzh

Language Packs

A Language Pack is a python package that defines one or more language modules. The default language pack includes a number of D&D languages with rules built according to the conventions established by my D&D group over several years of play in our homebrew setting.

The default language pack is language.languages; each submodule contains a README that describes the basic characteristics of the language, along with examples.

Using Your Own Language Pack

You can override fanlang's default language pack by specifying the FANLANG_LANGUAGE_PACK environment variable:

# Create your ancient_elvish module in campaign/language_pack/ancient_elvish
% FANLANG_LANGUAGE_PACK=campaign.language_pack fanlang list
Ancient Elvish : ...

Setting the Default Language

'common' is the default language module. You can override this by setting the FANLANG_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE environment variable:

% FANLANG_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=gnomish fanlang names --count=1
Jey Lea

You can read about creating custom language packs below.

Library Quick Start

You can load all supported languages in a language pack using language.load_langauge_pack():

>>> import language
>>> language_pack, supported_languages = language.load_language_pack()
>>> common = supported_languages['common']
>>> common.word(2)
['apsoo', 'nirtoet']
>>> common.text()
Proitsiiiy be itkif eesof detytaen. Ojaot tyskuaz apsoo nirtoet prenao.
>>> commoner = f"{common.Name}"
"Quiet" Gushi Murk Lirpusome
>>> common.Name.name()
{
    name: ['Gushi', 'Murk'],
    surname: ['Lirpusome'],
    adjective: ["Quiet"],
}

You can also load individual languages directly:

>>> from language.languages import common
>>> common.Language.word(2)
['apsoo', 'nirtoet']
>>> str(common.Name)
"Quiet" Gushi Murk Lirpusome

Defining a New Language Pack

Language packs are python packages with the following structure:

language_pack:
  __init__.py
  language_name:
    __init__.py
    README.md
    base.py
    names.py
    rules.py
  ...

Language Modules

A language consists of several submodules:

• base.py, which contains grapheme definitions and a Language subclass;
• names.py, which defines the NameGenerator subclasses; and
• rules.py, which is optional, and defines the rules all words in the language must follow.

Read on for a discussion of each of these components.

Language Generators

Let's look at a simple example, the Gnomish language. Here's the Language subclass defined in base.py:

from language import defaults, types
from .rules import rules

consonants = types.WeightedSet(
    ("b", 0.5), ("d", 0.5), ("f", 0.3), ("g", 0.3),
    ("h", 0.5), ("j", 0.2), ("l", 1.0), ("m", 0.5),
    ("n", 1.0), ("p", 0.5), ("r", 1.0), ("s", 1.0),
    ("t", 1.0), ("v", 0.3), ("w", 0.2), ("z", 0.1),
)

suffixes = types.equal_weights(["a", "e", "i", "o", "y"], 1.0, blank=False)


Language = types.Language(
    name="gnomish",
    vowels=defaults.vowels,
    consonants=consonants,
    prefixes=None,
    suffixes=suffixes,
    syllables=types.SyllableSet(
        (types.Syllable(template="consonant,vowel,vowel"), 1.0),
        (types.Syllable(template="consonant,vowel"), 0.33),
    ),
    rules=rules,
    minimum_grapheme_count=2,
)

Defining Graphemes

A Language definition includes graphemes, the basic building blocks of any language. We start with vowels and consonants, which are required in every language; Gnomish also includes suffixes, but no prefixes. Each grapheme is a WeightedSet, which is like a regular set except its members consist of a tuple of a string and a relative weight from 0.0 to 1.0. These weights will be used when selecting a random grapheme.

Gnomish uses the default vowels, defined in the language.defaults submodule, but define our consonants with a subset of English consonants. By experimenting with different sets and different weights, you can generate radically different feeling text output!

Gnomish also uses suffixes, which are graphemes added to the ends of words. Here we use the helper function types.equal_weights(), which returns a WeightedSet where each member is given the same weight. Normally this function also inserts the grapheme ("", 1.0) into the set, but we disable this behaviour by specifying blank=False.

Defining Syllables

A syllable is a collection of graphemes, including at least one vowel. When we create words, we select a random syllable template from a SyllableSet, which is just a WeightedSet whose members are Syllable instances. Each Syllable declares a template, and like graphemes, has a weight associated with it that will make it more or less likely to be chosen for a word.

A syllable's template consists of a comma-separated string of grapheme names. In Gnomish, we have two possible syllable templates, consonant,vowel,vowel and the shorter consonant,vowel, which will be selected one third as often.

Templates also support randomly-selected graphemes by joining two or more grapheme types with a vertical bar, for example vowel|consonant would choose one or the other; vowel|consonant,vowel would result in a vowel or a consonant followed by a vowel.

How Words Are Constructed:

The main interface for callers is word(), which returns a randomly-generated word in the language according to the following algorithm:

1. Choose a random syllable from the syllable set
2. For each grapheme in the syllable:

• Choose a random grapheme template
• Choose a random sequence from the language for that grapheme
• Validate the word against the language rules

1. Repeat 1-2 until a valid word is generated
2. Add a prefix and suffix, if they are defined

When graphemes are chosen, the following rules are applied:

• Every syllable must have at least one vowel; and
• A syllable may never have three consecutive consonants.

A More Complex Example

The Common language is a more complex definition, with language-specific prefixes, suffixes, vowels, and consonants, and many possible syllables. This results in highly-varied text.

Rules

Rules are a set of callables that accept a language instance and a word. The callable returns True if the word passes some test, and False otherwise. Every randomly-generated word must pass all defined rules for the language, or it is rejected.

The language.rules module contains a number of useful rules that are applied by default to most languages, mostly used to aid readability and generate words that are pronouncable. Here's a simple example:

def too_many_consonants(language: Language, word: str) -> bool:
    found = re.compile(r"[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{3}").findall(word)
    if found == []:
        return True
    logger.debug(f"{word} has too many contiguous consonants: {found}")
    return False

This rule ensures that a word does not contain more than 3 english consonants in a row.

Defining Language-Specific Rules

Rules are passed as a set of callables to the Language constructor, so they can be anything you want, defined anywhere you want. By convention, language packs use a separate rules module when building custom rule sets.

Name Generators

Name generators are similar to Language generators, but with a few key differences. Here is a simple example, also from the Gnomish language:

from language import types
from language.languages.gnomish import Language

Name = types.NameGenerator(
    language=Language,
    templates=types.NameSet(
        (types.NameTemplate("name,surname"), 1.0),
    ),
)
NobleName = Name

In Gnomish, names are straightforward, consisting of a name and a surname, and there is no distinction between regular names and the names of the nobility. By contrast, Elvish names are complex, consisting of multiple distinct parts, including place names, affixes, and separate rules for common and noble name construction.

Defining Names

Name Generators are defined with a Language, and one or more NameSet templates. NameSets are equivalent to SyllableSets, but instead of creating templates for the construction of syllables from sequences of graphemes, they define sequences of parts of names -- names, surnames, titles, nicknames, and so on. They follow the same semantics as Syllables, allowing for a large variety of potential names.

By default, both names and surnames are generated automatically by calling NameGenerator.language.word(). Thus, the simplest name generator will simply follow all the rules of the language itself and generate one or more random words. You can override multiple aspects of a language's rules for word generation by passing NameGenerator additional arguments. For example, here is a generator for the names of locations in the Elvish language:

from language import types, defaults
from language.languages.elvish import Language

PlaceName = types.NameGenerator(
    language=Language,
    syllables=types.SyllableSet(
        (types.Syllable(template="vowel,vowel|consonant,vowel|consonant"), 1.0),
        (types.Syllable(template="consonant,vowel|consonant,vowel|consonant"), 0.3),
    ),
    templates=types.NameSet(
        (types.NameTemplate("affix,name"), 1.0),
    ),
    affixes=types.WeightedSet(("el", 1.0)),
    adjectives=defaults.adjectives,
)

Note how we declare new syllables, affixes, and adjectives, which will replace the Language's default behaviours.

Subclassing

Sometimes we need even more control than providing new syllable sets and weighted sets for graphemes. Subclassing NameGenerator gives you significant control over how names are constructed. For example, Elvish surnames are based on Elvish place names; to accomplish this, we subclass NameGenerator and override the method used to generate surnames:

class ElvishNameGenerator(types.NameGenerator):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(
            language=Language,
            syllables=Language.syllables,
            templates=types.NameSet(
                (types.NameTemplate("name,affix,surname"), 1.0),
            ),
            affixes=types.equal_weights(["am", "an", "al", "um"], weight=1.0, blank=False),
            adjectives=defaults.adjectives,
            titles=defaults.titles,
            suffixes=suffixes,
        )
        self.place_generator = PlaceName

    def get_surname(self) -> str:
        return self.place_generator.name()[0]["name"][0]