By the way, the reason that nobody could understand the Ipsilstanst is because they were speaking Gerrk. The word "Ipsilstanst" is simply Stofonian for "sea people", and is applied to these people because of their famed prowess at seafaring. No one knows what they called themselves.

The Ipsilstanst culture flourished so long ago that the earliest records of the Elosians and Stofonians probably glimpse only its decline. When communicating with other peoples, the Ipsilstanst usually preferred to learn the foreign language themselves and keep their own language hidden. They would, however, frequently apply the "Gerrk" principle to any language which they learned, so that the concept became well known in the ancient world.

First the Mayols and later the Stofonians were inspired by this to create specialist Gerrk jargons. These were often used as "secret languages" by the Masters and Mistresses (men's and women's cultic societies), with neither sex being able to comprehend the other's speech, even though both were speaking Stofonian.