Common (also called the Common Tongue or Common Speech) is a
widespread language descended from the largely unwritten, non-
standard form of Thulian spoken by the lower classes and
conquered subject peoples of the Thulian Empire. In the years
following the collapse of the Empire, Common came to be used as
a trade and diplomatic language between the various city-states
and nations that arose from the ashes. Of course, Common shows
much local variation in orthography and vocabulary, which is why
there is a 1 in 6 chance that a speaker of one dialect may
either misunderstand the speaker of another or fail to convey
his own meaning, if the speaker has not familiarized himself
with the new dialect beforehand. Nevertheless, knowledge of any
dialect of Common is usually sufficient to get by in all but the
most remote or far-flung regions previously governed by the
Thulian Empire (and in many regions outside it). EDIT: I had
thought I'd set this post to publish tomorrow morning (April 4,
2011), since Sundays are exclu