What is a Praetorian Clockwork language?
Glad you asked!
In Praetoria, they have Clockwork like on Primal Earth. But rather than being the psychically cobbled-together scrapmetal monstrosities of the clockwork king, they are sleek android servant robots, invented by Praetor Keyes (Anti-Matter) and popularized by Praetor Barry (Neuron).
Clockwork, when speaking, use a simple code-like abbreviation of the English language. Clockwork-speak is different from the speech of ordinary citizens, or in Clockspeak, CWK.SPK != CIT.SPK.
The Clockwork's shorthand consists of 3-4 letter abbreviations for nouns, verbs and most adjectives, coupled with simple linking terms to form sentences. For instance, in Clockspeak, Praetoria is simply PRA. Emperor Marcus Cole (AKA Tyrant) is MCL.
Common linking terms are = (equals or is), != (does not equal or is not), > (greater than), < (less than), and simple conjunctions, adjectives and adverbs such as "if", "else", "then", "while", and "until".
To indicate possession or subject-predicate relation, you enclose a term in parentheses, and place the term it relates to or is possessed by outside of it.
You can also add ! to the front of any term to indicate "is not" - for instance, !ALV (not alive) means that the subject is dead. Adding ? before a term indicates a question. So "?YOU = ALV" means "Are you alive?"
So, If you want to state that Emperor Cole could kill Praetor White in a fight, you'd say...
If EMP.MCL.ATK(PRT.WHT) then PRT.WHT = !ALV
Now, if you want to say that Emperor Cole HAS killed Praetor White in a fight, that would be...
EMP.MCL.ATK(PRT.WHT) until PRT.WHT = !ALV
And if you want to state that you are running from Praetor White because you were discussing whether or not Emperor Cole could kill him...
TSK.ABT(TLK(If EMP.MCL.ATK(PRT.WHT) then ?PRT.WHT = ALV));TSK = ESC(PRT.WHT)
This has been a crash-course in Praetorian Clockwork language. Now if you'll excuse me, I hear thudding boots and swearing. I think I may need to ESC(PRT.WHT).