The Kopri don’t use voices like humans do. Instead, they communicate through rapid changes in skin color and texture—a living language woven across their bodies. Now, you don’t need to have all this background to understand Tide Song, but since people have asked, I thought I’d give you some details to help make the world real for you. Each color shift carries meaning: red might signal warning, green could mean peace, violet might express grief. But it’s not just color—ridges, bumps, and flowing textures appear and vanish across their skin like moving braille, adding tone, emphasis, and emotional depth. It’s a complete language, just as rich and nuanced as spoken words. The shimmer of a warning, the pulse of laughter, the flicker of doubt—it’s all written in living light and touch.
As far as using actual Kopri language in the book, well, that would be pretty unreadable. So instead I used the patterns and colors to highlight the emotional state of the Kopri speaking. If you want to see a “dictionary” of emotional states, you can find that on my Freebies page (tidepress.net/freebies no sign ups needed).
So how does this all work? Here’s a dialogue sample from Tide Song to show you how it works:
“I found you too late.” Blue patterns rose and fell around OldFish’s eyes.
“But I lived,” Kei sang, “because of you.” She tightened her grip on OldFish’s tentacle as tremors passed through both human and kopri. “ Great sorrow.” OldFish’s mantle turned from blue to black, skin painted in dark, patternless despair.
Heart Tide Press: Lyrical fantasy for teen and adults who crave complex world-building
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