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+# Introduction
+
+## In-world background
+
+Hàësdáëga is a dead language spoken by ancient people in Gaëdaäna.
+In the day, there was only one language in the continent, shared by people from
+five peoples: *Wood* farmers, *Fire* hunters, *Earth* monks, *Metal* smiths and
+*Water* seafarers.  They embraced the philosophy and that reflected in their
+languages.  They not only used the language to communicate, but also to define
+a method with which they could control these five natural forces.
+
+Later, as these peoples mixed up, their ability to harness these five natural
+forces strengthened for some and weakened for the others.  Most notably, the
+*Metal* and *Water* people lost almost all of this power, and only a minority
+could still use it.  Science and trade thus became their main strength.  On the
+other hand, *Fire* and *Wood* people could control it so well, they no longer
+needed the language to guide their power.  *Earth* monks were the most pure
+with this power, but chose to distance themselves from others' affairs.
+Naturally, the language was divided into five different languages (and two
+pidgins) and the old way of using natural force was forgotten.
+
+Incidentally, *Arrow*, the son of *Blade* and *Pearl*[^1], re-invented the way.
+Born as a child of a Metal mage warrior and a magicless aristocrat in a
+science-oriented society, he learned to use one heritage to support the other.
+He tried to reconstruct the ancient language and defined a way to use it to combine
+his magic ability.  Independently, *Iceberg*[^1] also discovered it by reading
+old text he was lucky to find
+
+We are interested in the linguistic features of this language as well as its magical
+structure. In this book we discuss both of them.
+
+[^1]: These names are temporary, but they carry the meaning of their future names.