I'm working on a PFS character from Galt. He's a human, so he would get a bonus language from his ethnicity. The thing is the languages from Galt are common and Hallit, and the ethnicity that speaks Hallit are the Kellids who seem to generally live further north. So would it make more sense for him to be a Kellid who is from Galt, or not speak Hallit, or could I just claim he's Galtan, and use that to justify the additional language?
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His ethnicity is one of those described for humans in Chapter 1 of the ISWG. He's most likely Chelaxian or Taldan, both of which give him Common. edit: The only other ISWG ethnicity that lists Galt as a favoured region is Azlanti (favoured region: any), which is not legal. As far as I know your character isn't required to come from one of his ethnicity's favoured regions, though. You could have a Kellid, or for that matter a Mwangi or Tian-Min, from Galt.
Hallit is more widely spoken then the northern barbarian tribal regions. It's also spoken to some extend by some groups of mostly the 'under classes' in more southern areas of Avistan, presumably because the area was previously populated by Kellid before being 'colonized' by Taldor/Cheliax, or these populations otherwise moved into and were integrated into the local countries. So it's kind of an artifact of the longer-historical origins of the countries' peoples and identities, but it's basically an auxilliary language to Common spoken by Kellid-origin populations who are nonetheless integrated into the social structure of Galt-ian society and are no longer 'barbarians' even if they are mostly 'underclass'.
Taldan or Chelaxian would make the most sense.
Taldane (see below) is the most widely spoken language in Avistan and Garund and so is referred to as Common in the Inner Sea region.
From here. Galt is in Avistan, so "Common" is Taldane. Officially, anyway.
EDIT: I see no reason why a non-Kellid Galtan couldn't know Hallit as a second language, just like ethnic Chelaxians living in Varisia would find it handy to know Varisian to communicate with the native peoples (all of whom also speak Common, by rule, but whatever :P ).
agreed, likewise it wouldn't be that unsurprising for rich/upper-class Kellid-heritage Galtans to NOT know Hallit, because it is a lower-class language there, and likewise for some lower-class non-Kellid-heritage Galtans to know Kellid because they pick it up from their community. i suspect there are alot more lower-class Hallit-speaking Galtans who are NOT pure-blooded Kellids, but are instead some sort of mix or even with none or nearly none Kellid blood. while there is some continuity and mutual recognition, i would say that MOST Hallit-speakers in Galt would identify more as 'Galtans' rather than Kellids per se (while not denying that heritage per se). the Hallit spoken in Galt seems at the least as different a language copmared to northern barbarian Hallit as Chelaxian is to Taldan (technically the same language, but basically distinct dialects), and pretty much all Galtan Hallit speakers will know Commmon/Taldan as well, and functionally will intersperse the two languages even amongst themselves (Galtan Hallit speakers). that is kind of glossed over in a PFS setting, where EVERYBODY always knows Common, but 'realistically' in Golarion many/most tribal barbarian Kellids in the north aren't fluent in Common, yet all Galtans are.
so if the OP wants to just say he is 'Galtan' (whether or not with Kellid heritage) it seems fine to me.
i think you can compare it to a country like Paraguay, where Spanish is the colonial language and predominant as the educated culture language, yet the indigenous language is widely spoken including by people with only minimal indigenous blood.
Having lived in Paraguay for almost seven years, I completely agree.
How do bonus and automatic languages work in Golarion? Do humans get their ethnic/regional language automatically?
Yes.
Do Non-humans?
Technically, no. Which is kind of weird in some cases. But ask your GM; I'd allow it. Half-orcs and half-elves also get their half-racial language for free, even if they were raised completely in one culture and had no contact with the other side of their heritage. Again, weirdness that can be figured out with your GM.
I've also had GMs rule that "common" in Katapesh is Kelish and not Taldane and that in Mwangi lands, it's Polyglot (unless you're in Sargava) which I find more logical.
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How do bonus and automatic languages work in Golarion? Do humans get their ethnic/regional language automatically? Do Non-humans?
Languages granted by human ethnicities are free and treated the same as racial languages (ISWG page 11). A Kellid human PC speaks Common and Hallit in the same way that an elf PC speaks Common and Elven.
Characters who get extra languages for a high Intelligence score can choose from those listed as bonus languages for their race, which for humans and half-elves means all except secret languages. Characters who put ranks into Linguistics can take any language except secret languages.
PFS rules add that anyone can take modern human languages as bonus languages, but ancient languages can't be bonus languages and are only available through Linguistics.
Thanks for the advice. After looking through the posts I think Kellid descent makes sense.
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How do bonus and automatic languages work in Golarion? Do humans get their ethnic/regional language automatically?Yes.
Do Non-humans?Technically, no. Which is kind of weird in some cases. But ask your GM; I'd allow it. Half-orcs and half-elves also get their half-racial language for free, even if they were raised completely in one culture and had no contact with the other side of their heritage. Again, weirdness that can be figured out with your GM.
I've also had GMs rule that "common" in Katapesh is Kelish and not Taldane and that in Mwangi lands, it's Polyglot (unless you're in Sargava) which I find more logical.
It's stuff like this that make me ask the GM to simply house-rule me languages that make sense as opposed to languages that are standardized (i.e. if i was a Half-Elf raised in Numeria with no contact with elven parents he'd speak Common and Hallit instead of Common and Elven), of course, I'd never ask to add a language though...
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Speaking of Galt, who lives just across its Eastern border? The map just has an empty green bit there.
As yet unrevealed as far as I'm aware. To the east is the mega continent of Casmaron, which hasn't been covered much at all. The only areas in Western Casmaron we know anything about is Iboria (much further to the north, meeting with Brevoy) and the Kelshite Empire (of which Qadira is the westermost satrapy).