Ethnic Identity in Celtheste (CCW)

Ethnic identity is paramount in Celtheste. State identity is fragile and a greater Celthestan identity is only just beginning to arise, so most Celthestans identify mainly with their historical ethnic “clana” identity as well as their regional subculture.

There are several major ethnicities in Celtheste as well as some notable minorities. The founding three, and most dominant groups, are the Midlanders, who migrated to Celtheste a thousand years ago from the west in several distinct groups. Minority groups, especially the Sayrhoul and Oinosi, have often clashed with the Midlanders, and their self-identification as Celthestan varies from region to region and from one time period to another.

Midlanders
The dominant ethnic identities of Celtheste all trace their roots back to mass migrations from Midland about one thousand years ago. The initial wave, led by the Avony King Cerodine and the goddess Cana, was responsible for founding the First Kingdom of Celtheste and creating Celtheste as we know it. Subsequent migrations followed, and as mentioned above, these migration groups are perhaps better indicators of a Midlander beliefs, habits, and economic standing than any other category. Regional and local differences also offer a better understanding of a Celthestan's cultural world. Nevertheless, physical traits and clana ancestry remain the more visible and readily invoked forms of ethnic identification.

Today 83% of Celthestans claim Midlander ancestry, and are found in all Celthestan realms.

The Dory
Once the most populous ethno-linguistic group in Celtheste, the Dory arguably still are, but since most of them have blended with other groups, adapted to different environments, and lost their original language and traditions, they are now difficult to identify. Nevertheless, a significant segment of Celthestans identify as Dory or as having Dory heritage.

As the narrative goes, they were escaped slaves from Anters and Asluna who founded a sea-faring society in the Doors, a strategic island chain in the north of Midland. Several waves of Dory migrants left this homeland to settle Celtheste during the First Kingdom and mixed heavily with other peoples and adapting to their ways. Several centuries later, a conflict and genocide in the Doors prompted a revival of Dory culture and language in Celtheste, especially in the area that would become Wacuin.

Traditional Dory culture is family-centric, industrious, and places emphasis on cooperation, trust, and the public good. Its language, now known as Wacunues, is descended from the sea-faring Vadran language, and is mutually intelligible with Capalesian. Of course, the vast majority of modern Dory people speak other languages and practice diverse cultures, even while they retain “typically Dory” traits such as openness, hospitality, and communalism. In most cases, the ethnic Dory identity is far subordinate to one’s regional culture or migration group.

The Avony
The Avony are the most dominant and influential people group in Celtheste. Modern Avonish, an official language in four of the five major states, is the most widely spoken tongue in Celtheste. And even in regions where they are not the most populous, their cultural values of innovation, individualism, and rationalism pervade society at all levels. Avony art, literature, and epic history are regularly celebrated and invoked in schools and public life, in all their hyperbole and optimism. And in the spirit of Avony thought, public life in Celtheste is mostly secular and mostly capitalist. This extends especially to much of the upper classes of Celtheste, who treat Avony culture as high culture and use it to relate and compete with one another.

Despite all of this, centuries of intermarriage and cohabitation with other groups mean that the Avony identity has no strong genealogical basis. This is just as well. Avony identity has always been centered more on language and custom than appearance or bloodlines. The Avony culture is happy to adopt anyone into their fold, provided they assimilate. This is how Celthestan culture has become nearly synonymous with the Avony, for better or worse.

Note that even Avony culture, however, is heavily modified or reinterpreted based on one’s regional culture and migration group.

The Indrisaender
The Indrisaender are by far the most coherent ethnic group of the Midlanders. Unlike the Dory and Avony, they generally avoid mixing with other populations and have built up a homogeneous society in the Dahanaem region of Celtheste. In Dahanaem, Indrisaender culture and traditions are carefully and proudly preserved alongside their language, now known as Dahaender. Outside Dahanaem, most Indrisaender live in the north of Celtheste, where they mix more freely with other peoples. Of course the strength of the Indrisaender identity fades the further out from Dahanaem they are.

Regional and migration group differences abound, but in general the closer one is to Indrisaender culture, the more likely one is to value discipline, resilience, and other forms of inner strength. It is no coincidence that these are also the core tenets of the House of Ingair, the original Celthestan Church, headquartered in Dahanaem, to which the Indrisaender are fiercely loyal. Among the Indrisaender, faith and morality is paramount.

The Indrisaender also tend to be more egalitarian when it comes to gender—their greatest heroes and leaders have been women, after all. And when it comes to class, the Indrisaender celebrate wealth and power while despising poverty; so much so that they loathe to see anyone living in the streets and will expect their rulers to care for the destitute. For above all, the Indrisaender strive to civilized, wherever they may reside, to be a shining lantern in the dark of a northern night.

Minority Ethnicities
Minority ethnic groups have had profound impacts on Celthestan demographics and culture. The Sayrhoul arrived in Celtheste from the east, claim a long history of mistreatment by the Midlanders. The Oinosi, previous inhabitants of southern Celtheste, clashed with the Midlanders and the Sayrhoul as they re-populated their ancestral lands. Significant groups of Sankorin and Enekhites have also emigrated to Celtheste over the years and established their own unique communities.

Many other ethnicities are found in Celtheste, notably the Sunyans, who settled Amethyst Gate and Aylees as trade posts. But like the Sunyans, most smaller ethnic groups in Celtheste do not have a strong historical connection to Celtheste’s core identities and conflicts. They tend to exist in unique localized ways, contributing to the diversity of an urban center or region, or even dominating a locality in a unique way—but their influence and recognition by other Celthestans rarely go beyond that.

New migration groups especially tend to hold on to the traditions of their homeland for several generations until totally assimilating into their locality. Older groups, like the Sunyans, may have left a distinct cultural fingerprint where they settled, but do not necessarily identify with the nation of Sunya, preferring their local Celthestan identity. Large ethnic identifiers, listed here, have more significance.

The Sayrhoul
The Sayrhoul, like the Midlanders, were called by a god to leave their homeland and settle in Celtheste, but their story ended much differently. They came from the east, from a much further distance, and had a much longer, far more harrowing voyage. So traumatic was their journey that they banished it from their collective memory. To this day the Sayrhoul don’t know what transpired or why they arrived in Celtheste without their god. And what’s more, they arrived to find the Midlanders had already settled most of the country.

Thus began the bitter saga of the Sayrhoul in Celtheste: pushed into the desert, oppressed by the mages, scapegoated for a plague, imprisoned and used as forced labor, and so on and on. Their rebellions come so frequently that they’ve become a punchline in Celthestan politics. During Dalcerannean rule, they were finally granted serious rights and protections, but the image of them as malcontents and criminals has never fully dissipated. Inevitably, distrust of the Midlanders still runs deep among them as well.

Progress has been made though, especially within the Magelands, the site of the worst atrocities against them. Within the Empire of Maslan, some Sayrhoul self-govern in (unofficially and officially) autonomous communities. And where they live with and mix with other peoples they have gradually shed their stigma in favor of a new reputation, as champions of bravery, honor, and liberty. They have been especially recognized for their rich oral tradition and their dramatic, romantic literature. In the canon you will find stories and songs that document the life of Celtheste far more accurately and meaningfully than from the more dominant cultures.

While there is a recognizable Sayrhoul identity alive and well in Celtheste today, regional and local cultures do divide and differentiate them in important ways.

The Oinosi
The Oinosi are not one people, but many. Long before the arrival of the Midlanders, these lands were dominated by the Empire of Hylicarus, which ruled over much of what is now southern Celtheste. While Hylicarus dissolved millennia ago, the various peoples once under its yoke share cultural and linguistic roots. Celthestans use the term Oinosi to refer to all of them, including both their southern neighbors and the “indigenous” peoples living within Celthestan borders. For our purposes, the term will only refer to the latter group.

What it actually means to live within Celthestan borders, however, is a complex issue. The Oinosi have always had a fraught relationship with the Midlanders, who settled in their ancestral lands. Numerous wars and disputes have meant that the southern border of Celtheste has never been well defined. Many territories in this area have been independent from Celtheste at certain points and within its sphere at others. Currently, three independent Oinosi-led states exist in what was recently considered part of Celtheste. So whether the Oinosi in these border regions are also Celthestans is an open question, answered very differently from community to community, and individual to individual.

It cannot be overstated that the idea of the Oinosi is a Celthestan construction. In reality, these are many peoples that speak an array of languages and practice a wide diversity of cultures. And while many of these languages and cultures share similarities (strong adherence to tradition, high regard for learning, extravagant hospitality, etc.), most Oinosi identify more strongly with their local or regional identities.

The Sankorin
The Sankorin (Sankori) are a significant minority group in Celtheste, descended from the waves of migrants that came from the island nation of Sankorin. The first waves were recruited by the demigod Jaleel, one of the founders of the First Kingdom, who was himself Sankori, and to this day he remains somewhat of a patron saint.

While the Sankorin live in communities all across Celtheste, many of them have managed to retain their language, distinctive culture, and connection to one another through strong trade and social associations. The Sankori trade network was, in fact, an important early form of banking in Celtheste, and to some extent the stereotype of the Sankori trader/moneylender still remains, maintained by a few prominent Sankori organizations as well as the token roles they often play in Celthestan lore. And while the typically pragmatic, loyal, and discerning Sankori still exists, the strength of the Sankori identity wanes with each generation.

Especially now, with their economic role greatly diminished, many younger Sankorin are actively distancing themselves from their elders and seeking to assimilate into their local environments. The culture is in danger of disappearing altogether, as it already has in major urban areas. Although the argument can be made that Sankori identity isn’t disappearing, but changing and adapting to the places it has landed, knit more snugly into the fabric of Celtheste’s regional subcultures.

The Enekhites
The Enekhites migrated from the Old World early on in Celtheste’s history, at the beckoning of the demigod Yael, quickly becoming a fixture of Celthestan society. For the most part they have integrated into their local communities over the years and are now only marked by their distinctive surnames. In one region, however, they settled in large numbers and killed, expelled, or assimilated all other groups, until only Enekhites remained.

While they may call themselves Lantans, the population of Lantany today is unmistakably Enekhite, with all the classic markers of Old World culture and flair: reverent, almost fearful piety, fatalistic viewpoint,  a preference for ritual and mysticism; permissive and respectful of private activities, while carefully maintaining and scrutinizing public personas… All this is present, curiously enough, without any conscious awareness of a connection to Enekhe. The Lantans have erased any connection to their true history and replaced it with that of the now extinct Lantany Clan. Instead of Yael or the heroes of Enekhe, they celebrate their “founder,” Lantor, and all the other Midlandish folk figures. In place of their own gods, they worship slightly modified versions of Celthestan ones.

The ruse, if you can call it that, is working. Generations after ethnic cleansing and cultural theft, barely any Celthestans remember or care about the true origin of the modern Lantans, and the Lantans themselves are mostly just as oblivious.