Old Besokian language
Old Besokian was a religious and literary language spoken at Nishûnâc during the Old Besokian period. A late stage of Proto-Besokian, it emerged as the Besokian dialects had begun to separate and form distinct languages but the Besokian peoples continued to return to Nishûnâc for the equinox celebrations (Sântûrûc). It is the main language recorded in the Nishûnâc carvings, written in the Old Besokian abugida.
History
For most of its early human occupation, Proto-Besokian was the principal language of Nishûnâc, and presumably also the language of the Besokian cult. Shared by all Besokian tribes, it would later become the ancestral language to the whole of the Besokian family. By c. 2200 B.E.B., the Besokian horizon had expanded across Belkondíl and the Reknaya and the shared cultural centre at Nishûnâc been replaced by local sites and dependencies; Nishûnâc retained its importance only for the celebration of the equinox processions (Sântûrûc), to which delegations from all clans gathered at the holy site.
Nishûnâc itself is presumed to have housed only a small population, possibly in the form of a monastery or a ceremonial court; the language spoken in this place, effectively a dialect of Proto-Besokian, was used for ceremonial and religious purposes and is abundantly attested in writing through the Nishûnâc stone carvings. It seems to have differed from Proto-Besokian only in a small number of aspects (see below) and might have been intelligible to all Besokians, certainly those familiar with old Proto-Besokian texts.
Old Besokian is likely to have been spoken throughout the Old Besokian period and only have met its decline in the 18th century. Once the Besokian populations had spread too far from their point of origin, their loyalty to Nishûnâc began to dwindle. Possibly in a struggle over power, a Soskish raid seem to have hit Nishûnâc in the early 18th century B.E.B., destroying most of the complex. The site was abandoned around 1750 B.E.B., its last inhabitants migrating into the neighbouring Soskish kingdoms, Old Besokian going extinct soon after.
Innovations
Old Besokian