Back when I was consistently drawing concept art, I found myself drawing all Lacerti (the amphibious, web-handed speakers of the eponymous language) with four fingers on each hand.
As a consequence, when it came time to come up with a counting system for Lacerti, I questioned if a base ten counting system (like the one English and most other languages use) would be appropriate. Why would a species that has eight fingers to count on make a language that is based in tens.
Lacerti is now base eight because of my drawing style. Though, it’s not 0-7, it’s 1-8 because Lacerti uses the word for “deception” to convey the foreign concept of zero (and totally not because I didn’t initially know how number systems work).
Lacerti Number | English Equivalent | Lacerti Number | English Equivalent |
Sonll | 0 | ||
Nos | 1 | NoNos | 9 (2nd 1) |
No | 2 | NoNo | 10 (2nd 2) |
Sho | 3 | NoSho | 11 (2nd 3) |
Sh | 4 | NoSh | 12 (2nd 4) |
Shos | 5 | NoShos | 13 (2nd 5) |
Nosh | 6 | NoNosh | 14 (2nd 6) |
Osh | 7 | NoOsh | 15 (2nd 7) |
Os | 8 | NoOs | 16 (2nd 8) |
ShoNos | 17 (3rd 1) | ShNos | 25 (4th 1) |
ShoNo | 18 (3rd 2) | ShNo | 26 (4th 2) |
ShoSho | 19 (3rd 3) | ShSho | 27 (4th 3) |
ShoSh | 20 (3rd 4) | ShSh | 28 (4th 4) |
ShoShos | 21 (3rd 5) | ShShos | 29 (4th 5) |
ShoNosh | 22 (3rd 6) | ShNosh | 30 (4th 6) |
ShoOsh | 23 (3rd 7) | ShOsh | 31 (4th 7) |
ShoOs | 24 (3rd 8) | ShOs | 32 (4th 8) |
Sosh | 64 (1 sosh) | ||
SoshNos | 65 (1st sosh 1) | SoshNoNos | 73 (1st sosh 2nd 1) |
SoshNo | 66 (1st sosh 2) | SoshNoNo | 74 (1st sosh 2nd 2) |
SoshSho | 67 (1st sosh 3) | SoshNoSho | 75 (1st sosh 2nd 3) |
SoshSh | 68 (1st sosh 4) | SoshNoSh | 76 (1st sosh 2nd 4) |
SoshShos | 69 (1st sosh 5) | SoshNoShos | 77 (1st sosh 2nd 5) |
SoshNosh | 70 (1st sosh 6) | SoshNoNosh | 78 (1st sosh 2nd 6) |
SoshOsh | 71 (1st sosh 7) | SoshNoOsh | 79 (1st sosh 2nd 7) |
SoshOs | 72 (1st sosh 8) | SoshNoOs | 80 (1st sosh 2nd 8) |
NoSosh | 128 (2nd sosh) | ||
NoSoshNos | 129 (2nd sosh 1) | NoSoshNoNos | 137 (2nd sosh 2nd 1) |
NoSoshNo | 130 (2nd sosh 2) | NoSoshNoNo | 138 (2nd sosh 2nd 2) |
NoSoshSho | 131 (2nd sosh 3) | NoSoshNoSho | 139 (2nd sosh 2nd 3) |
NoSoshSh | 132 (2nd sosh 4) | NoSoshNoSh | 140 (2nd sosh 2nd 4) |
NoSoshShos | 133 (2nd sosh 5) | NoSoshNoShos | 141 (2nd sosh 2nd 5) |
NoSoshNosh | 134 (2nd sosh 6) | NoSoshNoNosh | 142 (2nd sosh 2nd 6) |
NoSoshOsh | 135 (2nd sosh 7) | NoSoshNoOsh | 143 (2nd sosh 2nd 7) |
NoSoshOs | 136 (2nd sosh 8) | NoSoshNoOs | 144 (2nd sosh 2nd 8) |
Shev | 576 (8th sosh 8th 8) | ||
ShevNos | 577 (1st shev 1) | ShevNoNos | 585 (1st shev 2nd 1) |
ShevNo | 578 (1st shev 2) | ShevNoNo | 586 (1st shev 2nd 2) |
ShevSho | 579 (1st shev 3) | ShevNoSho | 587 (1st shev 2nd 3) |
ShevSh | 580 (1st shev 4) | ShevNoSh | 588 (1st shev 2nd 4) |
ShevShos | 581 (1st shev 5) | ShevNoShos | 589 (1st shev 2nd 5) |
ShevNosh | 582 (1st shev 6) | ShevNoNosh | 590 (1st shev 2nd 6) |
ShevOsh | 583 (1st shev 7) | ShevNoOsh | 591 (1st shev 2nd 7) |
ShevOs | 584 (1st shev 8) | ShevNoOs | 592 (1st shev 2nd 8) |
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