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 NumberEnglish EquivalentLacerti NumberEnglish Equivalent
Sonll0
Nos1NoNos9 (2nd 1)
No2NoNo10 (2nd 2)
Sho3NoSho11 (2nd 3)
Sh4NoSh12 (2nd 4)
Shos5NoShos13 (2nd 5)
Nosh6NoNosh14 (2nd 6)
Osh7NoOsh15 (2nd 7)
Os8NoOs16 (2nd 8)
ShoNos17 (3rd 1)ShNos25 (4th 1)
ShoNo18 (3rd 2)ShNo26 (4th 2)
ShoSho19 (3rd 3)ShSho27 (4th 3)
ShoSh20 (3rd 4)ShSh28 (4th 4)
ShoShos21 (3rd 5)ShShos29 (4th 5)
ShoNosh22 (3rd 6)ShNosh30 (4th 6)
ShoOsh23 (3rd 7)ShOsh31 (4th 7)
ShoOs24 (3rd 8)ShOs32 (4th 8)
Sosh64 (1 sosh)
SoshNos65 (1st sosh 1)SoshNoNos73 (1st sosh 2nd 1)
SoshNo66 (1st sosh 2)SoshNoNo74 (1st sosh 2nd 2)
SoshSho67 (1st sosh 3)SoshNoSho75 (1st sosh 2nd 3)
SoshSh68 (1st sosh 4)SoshNoSh76 (1st sosh 2nd 4)
SoshShos69 (1st sosh 5)SoshNoShos77 (1st sosh 2nd 5)
SoshNosh70 (1st sosh 6)SoshNoNosh78 (1st sosh 2nd 6)
SoshOsh71 (1st sosh 7)SoshNoOsh79 (1st sosh 2nd 7)
SoshOs 72 (1st sosh 8)SoshNoOs80 (1st sosh 2nd 8)
NoSosh128 (2nd sosh)
NoSoshNos129 (2nd sosh 1)NoSoshNoNos137 (2nd sosh 2nd 1)
NoSoshNo130 (2nd sosh 2)NoSoshNoNo138 (2nd sosh 2nd 2)
NoSoshSho131 (2nd sosh 3)NoSoshNoSho139 (2nd sosh 2nd 3)
NoSoshSh132 (2nd sosh 4)NoSoshNoSh140 (2nd sosh 2nd 4)
NoSoshShos133 (2nd sosh 5)NoSoshNoShos141 (2nd sosh 2nd 5)
NoSoshNosh134 (2nd sosh 6)NoSoshNoNosh142 (2nd sosh 2nd 6)
NoSoshOsh135 (2nd sosh 7)NoSoshNoOsh143 (2nd sosh 2nd 7)
NoSoshOs136 (2nd sosh 8)NoSoshNoOs144 (2nd sosh 2nd 8)
Shev576 (8th sosh 8th 8)
ShevNos577 (1st shev 1)ShevNoNos585 (1st shev 2nd 1)
ShevNo578 (1st shev 2)ShevNoNo586 (1st shev 2nd 2)
ShevSho579 (1st shev 3)ShevNoSho587 (1st shev 2nd 3)
ShevSh580 (1st shev 4)ShevNoSh588 (1st shev 2nd 4)
ShevShos581 (1st shev 5)ShevNoShos589 (1st shev 2nd 5)
ShevNosh582 (1st shev 6)ShevNoNosh590 (1st shev 2nd 6)
ShevOsh583 (1st shev 7)ShevNoOsh591 (1st shev 2nd 7)
ShevOs584 (1st shev 8)ShevNoOs592 (1st shev 2nd 8)
The Lacerti Number Table up to 592