Here is a sea of grass and rolling hills, stretching far as the eye can see. Far to the east and west, past the fields of green and autumn-orange, mountain ranges rise up and past the clouds: cliffs to the heavens, climbing without end.
"Interesting!... huh, do you know how old she was, is she maybe a Half-Elf, have you seen a Half-Elf, they're like human but with pointy ears..." She mimes pointy ears next to her pre-existing pointy ears.
"I have seen people like that on Golarion but not here. She was supposed to be many tens of thousands of years old; I was told she reincarnates."
"I've never heard of anything like that, wow. So the King of Khelt sent you with the diplomatic mission to ask about ancient clerics on this world, and she says they existed but doesn't have a lot of information about it... and she ended up allying with Reim, but released you fairly. Is that about right? Why did you want to know about that, anyway?"
"Oh, it was going fine, but more information would have been valuable. Or at least it could have been, I suppose it would have been thoroughly useless if the Quarass had been able to tell us the favorite colors of historic clerics."
"...Right." She frowns. "Sorry, I just... it's a surprising choice to ask the Queen of a negotiating country for a random favor in the middle of diplomatic talks on what's shaping up to be a repeat of the world's biggest war in centuries."
"Unfortunately, if there were any relationship between the things, it would be sensitive information, so I shouldn't tell you if there is or not."
Oooookay.
"I won't press, then." Can he answer some human interest questions about people and life and the environment in the different places he was in?
Yes, of course. He didn't commit to memory a lot of what might be called local color but he can remember the winter sprites and the giant scorpions and the skeletons and the buildings all right. He mentions being surprised that the spoken language is nigh-identical across such a distance.
"Is it different in Golarion? I never thought much about it. They're just—words, how much can it change?"
"I speak three other languages. Two of them are related, but over time the speakers in one area began to use different words and styles of stringing them together and now someone who only speaks one or the other can only make themselves understood by their counterpart in the other region by deliberately using archaic phrasings and pronouncing things very formally."
"I suppose if like you said, people had to revert to a more archaic style to be understood by people in a different area, they might just get in the habit of doing it? Then it would naturally—gravitate—to common denominators."
"That happens in areas where people from different regions mix a lot. But when they go home, continuing to talk that way makes them sound strange and more difficult to understand. So they talk like the people around them."
"No, that makes sense. Not everyone knows how to read, right, in less civilized places most people can't read, and books aren't as commonplace. So a village might invent its own writing system. Especially after a major apocalypse, if a small population has lost contact."
"The related languages I speak do still use the same alphabet; I guess your speculation might be where different ones come from on Golarion too."
Shrug. "I'm not an expert, really. I heard that Drath has a different language, but they're so far away, I haven't ever seen a Drathian."
"Do the Antinium speak Common amongst themselves? They find such different things easily pronounceable."
She laughs a little. "I have no clue. They don't come out much. I think I'd only seen one other than Klbkch a few times, before the... thing with the undead from the dungeon. I don't think I've ever seen one speak. Other than Klbkch, again. From the way his name sounds, I'd guess they talk more... insecty."
Nod nod. "Anyway, even among humans on my planet there are many languages, but it's up to you if that matters enough to put in your piece."