Some of the Settlemoon's text is written in English with symbols substituted for letters but much of it is written in a constructed language ("Settlish").

Can this be translated? Well, sort of. We can't translate it word for word, but a surprising number of words can be worked out through context clues. Settlish also appears to draw some inspiration from Romance languages which provides some additional clues!

The first step is to translate the symbols into Latin characters. If you'd like to try this yourself:

• Start with the postcards and the material names in the building menu. Ignore everything else for now.
  
  
• Use the names that you already know as starting points (don't forget about the achievements!)
  
  
• There is (at least) one case in which two Latin characters are represented by the same symbol.
  
  
• If you want to check your work pick up a material and hover over the sky until its name appears.

If you're ready for spoilers, keep scrolling!

The filters in the building menu give the names of boss and moon-related items.

1st boss: BLOODLEAF

2nd boss: FORTSHROOM

3rd boss: LIGHTNING CELL

4th boss: BROKEN TOME

5th boss: GLASS PRISM

6th boss: DUST FLAKE

White rose: REMEMBRANCE ROSE

Sprouted Acolyte: SUNRISE SPROUT


Fire moon (yellow): GOD'S EYE PEARL

Water moon (blue): AURORA SCALE

Air moon (white): METEOR CHUNK

Earth moon (brown): HELIX FOSSIL

Growth moon (red): SANGUINE GRAPES

Rot moon (purple): SWARM LARVA

Moon(?) moon (blue-green): STAR POLLEN


The name on the player's save game is CATALYST (as mentioned in the Blind Keeper's pamphlet!).
The postcards are all addressed to:

CATALYST
VOXI DE RATAGR
SETTLEMOON

The second line seems to be written in Settlish. We'll come back to it later

Luna's tag is DEVLP and Rose's is MODER (likely short for developer and modder/moderator).


The health bar in the quest screen is labeled "HP" (hit points)

The large text scribbled over the mountains in the background reads "WIP" (work in progress!).


The only other document with directly translatable text is the reverse side of the moon chart. The two-letter combinations correspond with the elements. Clockwise from the top right, they read:

FI
GR
EA
WA
RO
AI

These seem to be both English abbreviations for the elements (Fire, Growth, Earth, Water, Rot, Air, Melee, and Range(d)) and the Settlish words for these elements. We can find all of these words on the bases of the element towers along with one additional one: OM (moon).

The most recent update added a moth on the backside of the cocoon and a new label: TIKKI EAOM. EAOM appears to be a combination of two of the element names: EA (earth) and OM (moon!)

Below is the text for the boss pamphlets translated into the Latin alphabet. I've represented all of the C/K letters as Ks.

NYA, FIOMRATEN DE VOAH VOLU?...
___, fire-moon-range[d]-___ of ____ ____?

O AD VOMUN DE IS MODS.
________ of the Keepers.

ORA MIDIAI DE IS RO!
___ ____-air of the rot!

FIOMRATEN looks like it could be a composite word and MIDIAI may be one too. The last document we received strongly hinted that MOD means "Keeper," so MODS could be the plural. Using the context from the postcard and the places it appears in the boss pamphlets, we can gather that DE means of. We already know that RO stands for the rot element/moon, but it appears to be used in a general sense as well! I think it's pretty safe to assume IS means "the."

TA DE BUD VOLU...NEL O DE AIME...
__ ___ ____...___ _ of air-melee...

KAL AIME...
___ air-melee...

NYAAAA.
______.

Based on the tutorial letter and the default naming of in-game friends, BUD seems to be Settlish for "friend". Here's NYA again (with the end drawn out for dramatic effect!) We also get another "DE ____ VOLU." AIME appears a couple of times. If this is a compound word, it would translate to "air-melee." Perhaps a movement has "struck the air" and attracted the Eye Stalker's attention?

The banner on the cover reads: YAPS!!

EATAL DE VOACI RO KON VOTOM.
Earth-__ of _____ rot ___ shutdown.

SHO GOTO DE IS VO YAA?
___ ____ of the other ___?

VOROTA.
__-rot__.

AL DE RA TO! MOD DE IS GOTO...
__ of range[d] __! Keeper of the __ __...

FIAI ZEALU!! [MAGNUM SPARK!!]
Fire-air _____!! (Magnum Spark!!)

The first line contains two of the few confirmed translations in the game: 'RO' (rot) and 'VOTOM' (the server shutdown), and the fourth line contains 'RA' (range[d]) - these might be referring to the elements/moons but could also be used more abstractly! KON is probably "after," "since,"or "because of." VOROTA looks like it might contain the word "rot" and FIAI could be a compound of fire and air - electricity, perhaps?

GOTO DE O KUO RA.
____ of _ ___ range[d].

We saw a couple of other GOTOs in the original Magnum Sparks pamphlet. We know that RA is range[d] so 'KUO' could be "attack(s)," "element(s)," or "weapon(s)."

The username logged into the computer is ROSE.

VONYA,
_____,
[CATALYST]
(Catalyst)
MOD DE GRTAME
Keeper of community.

VONYA could translate directly to "catalyst," but could also be another form of address used for the player. For reasons that I'll go into later, I believe that 'VO' refers to the "otherworld" outside the game, and we've seen 'NYA' a couple of other times...

There's a lot more Settlish text in the game. A lot of it is too small or stylized to be legible - I'm ignoring that for now.

There's a recurring symbol in the handwritten text that looks like the 'T' letter and the 'A' letter stuck together. It could be a stylized 'A' or a new letter entirely, but since we find a few of the same words "printed" elsewhere, I think it's pretty safe to say it's two separate letters written in "cursive" or ligature. I've written it as (TA) below.

Besides the element towers, the only object with "full-sized" text is the largest sign:

RATA

The text underneath looks like DE GR EU but it's too small to be sure.

The sign could also orient the other way, but based on letters resembling 'DE' and 'G' in the smaller text, I think it's most likely supposed to face this way.

On the card depicting multiple catalysts next to sketched-in structures:

TENTA AD
Above some stacked boxes

GREA LU
Above a tree

RATATEN
Above a house

GREA (growth-earth) is likely a tree. TENTA and RATATEN share a lot of structural similarities with words that appear after you unlock the "blueprint" area - more on them later.

On the card depicting adventurers fighting a keeper:
The keeper is labelled MOD and the adventurers are labelled BUDS.

On the card depicting the quest scrolls:
The boss timer is labeled ROTA.
This suggests that RO (rot) could be used in an abstract sense to indicate a loss or decrease.

TIKKI EAOM

This text appears right above a drawing of a moth with the "melting" moon element on the backside of the cocoon. We already know that the moon element is called OM. The moths are closely linked to the moons, so a moth could be an earthly manifestation of a moon, an "earth-moon." EAOM could also refer to the cocoon itself. TIKKI is a unique word which appears nowhere else.

VOXI DE RATAGR

If we revisit the second line of the postcards, we find another RATA! You'll find a third in one of the movable chalk words. It seems that our settlement is called RATAGR or RATA DE GR. We know from the element towers that GR refers to the growth element/moon, so that makes our town the Town of Growth or Growthtown!

VOXI could either be a more specific address or a title of the player. The prefix VO as seen in VOTOM) suggests something to do with the otherworld (more on this later!). I'm leaning towards it being either the catalyst's official title or the Settlish word for "post office."

The text on the blue cube on page 5 says VO(TA)

TEN(TA) GOTO
arrow pointing to one of the trees in the central cocoon area

Another instance of GOTO! The arrow appears to be pointing to the tree but could also be referring to the structure as a whole.

VO(TA)
XEN(TA)
brackets pointing to the ground platform beneath the central cocoon area

Another VOTA! Based on it's resemblance to VOTOM ("Loss of connection to the otherworld"), one of the few translations we're given outright, I'm going to guess that VOTA has some relation to the offline world outside the game, i.e. "the otherworld." In both contexts, it seems to refer to a portal connecting the otherworld to the world of Settlemoon (we don't actually see adventurers spawning from the VOTA cube pictured in the Blind Keeper's journal but they do appear in a subsequent picture, much to his surprise!)

RA(TA)
XEN(TA)
brackets pointing down to an empty area

There are originally two copies of this object, one facing either direction! Since the 'X' letter doesn't seem to have another letter which mirrors it, I'm going with the translation above (this is also consistent with the other XEN(TA) in the central cocoon blueprint!)

XEN(TA) seems to translate to "space" or "area." If we're translating RATA as "town" this would mean that these brackets are indicating the "town area" as opposed to the "otherworld/void area" indicated by the cocoon blueprint. XEN(TA) could also refer to the ground specifically, but this makes less sense in context.

TEN(TA)
arrow pointing sideways

This object also has two copies, one of which is backwards! Since all of the letters in this word are reversible it's possible that this should actually read "(AT)DLT but this doesn't seem likely. One of the arrows is originally pointing towards the outline of a house while the other points in the vague direction of three outlined bushes. We now have three very different types of sketched-in objects labeled 'TEN(TA)' so it likely refers to an outline or blueprint in general.

GOTO appears in the game four times and is pretty clearly a noun. At first glance it seems to refer to the tree portal where the cocoon hangs, but this doesn't fit with the fragments of text from the boss pamphlets:

Magnum Spark's Pamphlet, pages 6 and 10:

SHO GOTO DE IS VO YAA?
___ ____ of the other ___?

AL DE RA TO! MOD DE IS GOTO...
__ of range(d)! Keeper of the __ __...

The kobold in the picture is looking at the electrical equipment with which it is tinkering so it's not clear what it's asking. (What happened to the moon? Where the Guardian of Might went? Why the adventurers stopped coming?)

In the next picture a kobold is looking up at Magnum Spark, whose shadow we can see. It seems Magnum Spark is the "Keeper of the GOTO." Unfortunately his achievement text only refers to him as "The heir to the Keeper of Might", so this isn't much of a clue.

The Eye Stalker Sidequest Reward Pamphlet:

GOTO DE O KUO RA.
____ of _ ___ range(ed).

The adventurer in the image is holding a sword (and getting pummeled), so the Eye Stalker seems to be commenting on the absence of or necessity for ranged attacks (or perhaps the adventurer's inability to stay out of range!)

Given all of this context, I'm very tentatively translating GOTO as "future," but there are a lot of other possibilities ("change" and "rebirth/restoration" among them!)

Here is a list of all of the probable Settlish words whose meanings are either confirmed or heavily implied:

Now that we have a list of words to work with, we can pick up on a few rules:

1. Settlish appears to consist of 2-3 letter syllables which can be combined to form longer, more complex words.

2. Given the frequency with which the syllables appear, some words likely have multiple meanings (e.g. RO might refer to the rot element or to a decrease/wasting in general!).

3. Plurals seem to be formed by adding an S to the end of the word (e.g. MOD/MODS or BUD/BUDS).

Recurring syllables (For a refresher on the element names, scroll to the previous section!):
*This word has multiple possible syllable breakdowns.

Some words seem to sandwich extra letters between known syllables, namely EATAL and VOTOM. In both of these cases the T separates two identical vowels, so I initially assumed that it was just there to make it easier to identify the syllables. But what about words like ZEALU (Z+EA+LU) in which the "extra" letter appears at the beginning of the word? Could these single letters have meaning on their own?

We know that there is at least one letter that can stand on its own: O. And it's not a stretch to imagine that ORA is O+RA. But this takes us down a rabbit hole: since AL appears to be a syllable, KAL is likely K+AL, so it follows that K has inherent meaning too. But what does that mean for our other three-letter K word, KON? There are other three letter words in Settlish, but if K a standalone letter, isn't it more likely that KON is just K+ON? And if ON is a syllable, couldn't VONYA be V+ON+YA?

Another possibility is that some of our five-letter mystery words might actually contain three syllables, with a double letter being erased, e.g. VOTOM might actually be VO+TO+OM (void-time-moon) and VONYA could be broken down to VO+ON+YA (void-??-adventurer).

What function might these "odd letters" be serving? They could be giving information about the part of speech (adjective/adverb/noun etc.); e.g. if AL meant, say, "wisdom" then KAL could mean "wise" or "wisely." An extra letter could also act as a negator (something like "de-" or "un-" in English), or otherwise modify the word.


Depending on how we break down words V, T, M and/or N could also be "odd letters."

This section contains a LOT of guesswork - don't take it too seriously!

NYA, FIOMRATEN DE VOAH VOLU?...
Adventurer, fire-moon-range-plan of void-__ darkness?
Adventurer, fire-moon-range-plan of empty-__ darkness?
Adventurer, fire-moon-range-plan of dark void-__?
Adventurer, sun-range-plan of empty-__ darkness?

FIOMRATEN likely has something to do with the catalyst relighting the moon. Alternatively, FIOM ("fire-moon") could be Settlish for "sun." VOLU could be a noun but I could also imagine it being translated as an adjective (assuming that VOAH is a noun and that Settlish uses a noun-adjective order.)

O AD VOMUN DE IS MODS.
All __ void-__ of the Keepers.
All __ void-moon-__ of the Keepers.

I'm tentatively translating O as "every" or "all" here (I explain why after the next line!) AD means "to" or "towards" in Latin so it's possible that it was included as a "clue word" like DE. MUN looks a lot like the Latin word for "world," but an alternate splitting of VOMUN gives us OM. I'm treating VOMUN as VO+OM+UN here, but there's nothing that really supports or refutes this. It's not entirely clear what Count Cerise is talking about in this line, but they may be referencing the dormancy of the Keepers while the server remained inactive.

ORA MIDIAI DE IS RO!
_-range ___-air of the rot!
Everywhere the stench of the rot!
Among the stench of the rot!

"Air of the rot" sounds a lot like "stink" or "stench." I'm translating O as "every" here, mainly due to context; Count Cerise is described on their trading card as tending to a garden of perpetually-dying trees whose leaves litter the ground (and so would be constantly surrounded by the smell of decaying matter.) Alternatively O could translate to "in," in which case ORA could mean something like "among," but this doesn't seem to fit as well in the other phrases in which O appears.

TA DE BUD VOLU...NEL O DE AIME...
Place of friend void __...___ of all movement...
Place of friend void__...wholly ___ of movement...
Time of friend absence...___ all of ____

This translation really depends whether TA is "place," "time" or something else.

KAL AIME...
___ movement...

NYAAAA.
Adventurerrrrrrrr.

Banner: YAPS!

Given the likely relation between YA and NYA, I'm guessing that YAPS has something to do with adventurers. I can definitely imagine the kobolds putting up a sign to welcome adventurers to their mountain. P may be acting as a modifier here, with the S at the end denoting a plural.

EATAL DE VOACI RO KON VOTOM.
Earth-___ of empty-___ rot[ted] ___ the server shutdown.
Earth-place-__ of other-___ rot[ted] since the server shutdown.
Cave of other-___ rot[ted] since the server shutdown.
Land of empty-___ rot[ted] because of the server shutdown.

Given the EA prefix and the context of the pamphlet, EATAL could refer to a cave, specifically the cave in which adventurers used to fight the Keeper of Might; without knowing the meaning of AL it's difficult to confirm this. EATAL could also contain TA (earth-place-?? / earth-time-??).

SHO GOTO DE IS VO YAA?
___ ____ of the void/otherworld ___?
What [is the] future of the empty ___?
What [is the] fate of the otherworld adventurers?

YAA looks like it could be related to YAPS (the text displayed on the banner outside the kobold carnival!), and possibly also to NYA. If the syllable YA relates to adventurers, "A" could be another modifier.

VOROTA..
Void-rot-place.
Void-rot-time (server shutdown?)
Empty rot-place.
Otherworld junkyard.

This conversation seems to be referencing the Wyvern's abandoned cave, which is filled with "junk" left behind by adventurers after the server shutdown. A "rot-place" could refer to a graveyard or a scrap heap. If TA means time and not place, then "rot-time" could refer to the shutdown.

AL DE RA TO! MOD DE IS GOTO...
__ of the range(d) __! Keeper of the ____...
__ of the range [of] time! Keeper of the future...

GOTO meaning "future" is pretty speculative, but Magnum Spark being the Keeper of the Future seems to fit given that this pamphlet is about the kobolds creating something new out of the remains of the old.

FIAI ZEALU!! [MAGNUM SPARK!!]
Electric _-earth-light!! (Magnum Spark!!)

FIAI ZEALU seems to be the Settlish translation of Magnum Spark; this is probably not a direct translation, as neither EA nor LU seem to indicate size. Depending on how it's broken down, ZEALU could contain up to four syllables (ZE, EA, AL, and/or LU), of which all but ZE appear elsewhere.

GOTO DE O KUO RA.
____ of _ ___ range(d).
Future of all ranged weapons.
Future of exclusively ranged attacks.

Since the Eye Stalker is pictured fighting an adventurer, I'm guessing that RA refers to ranged attacks here (rather than being used in an abstract sense). KUO could translate to "weapons" or "attacks" (we still don't know whether Settlish places adjectives before or after nouns!). O meaning "all" also works here as this pamphlet is given right before the challenge in which the Eye Stalker must be defeated by class-exclusive groups.

VONYA,
Adventurer from the otherworld,
[CATALYST]
(Catalyst)
MOD DE GRTAME
Keeper of community.

Here's my complete (very speculative!) Settlish-to-English dictionary! I'm assuming here that five-letter words consist of three two-letter syllables with a doubled letter deleted. Definitions marked with an asterisk are confirmed in-game.

Thanks to Quilveor for pointing out typos and to both Quilveor and Pup for translation suggestions. You can find their contributions in the comments below!