Welkinstead is the anglicized name of the innermost gas giant of Focus. Its Commonthroat name is LLpLg /long low weak grunt; long low weak grunt; early falling weakening grunt; short low weak growl/, derived from LLg (outpost, colony or homestead) and pLg (cloud), “Welkin” being an archaic English word for cloud or sky.

Welkinstead is a member of the Allied Worlds, along with Sweetwater, Yih, and Newhome. The official language is Commonthroat. Welkinstead is a strong ally in its own right with the planet Moonlitter, the other of Focus’s two gas giants.

The large floating cities that house the planet’s population are clustered together along two subtropical high pressure belts. The subsiding air helps keep the poisonous gases from the layers below from upwelling into the breathable layer of the atmosphere where the cities can be found, though cyclonic storms occasionally bring gases upward , and residents must shelter inside until the storm abates.

Culturally, Welkinsteaders have a reputation for being provincial and loud, but also friendly and hard-working. Residents of Welkinstead’s few moons, called Moonies have the same reputation among other Welkinsteaders as Welkinsteaders have among the rest of Focus.

The Moonie accent of Commonthroat has many of the same cultural connotations as the American English accents of the Southern US. The dialect has a prohibitive mood unique to itself formed with the modal particle Gr /long low weak growl, chuff/, a contraction of the standard G rnL, the imperative modal particle + not. Compare the standard

G rnL qdBq scBqp qnlqCbK
G   rnL qdBq-0  scBq-p   qnlqCb-K
IMP not drink-A water-3D make_sick-DOG
Don't drink that water; it'll make you sick!

With the Moonie:

Gr qdBq scBqp qnlqCbK
Gr   qdBq-0  scBq-p   qnlqCb-K
PROH drink-A water-3D make_sick-DOG
Don't drink that water; it'll make you sick!

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