The Tseketli People (seh-KET-li)

During the era of the Ceth Tseket, the empire ruled over millions of people, and its population included many distinct ethnic and cultural groups. After the empire's apocalyptic destruction, only a small number of cities and towns persisted, primarily those isolated from arcane magic. Over the last couple thousand years, many of those populations of survivors integrated into other non-Tseketon communities over time, forming blended cultures with distant Tseketon roots, but a rare few remained isolated enough that their cultures are effectively direct descendants of the Ceth Tseket: they have modernized and changed over time no less others, but their Tseketon identities never faded. In isolation, the ancient ethnic divides within these communities blurred, and now, they are most accurately defined in terms of their shared Tseketon heritage. It is these communities that constitute the Tseketli. Undoubtedly the cultures of these isolated neo-Tseketon communities have grown apart from each other over time. "Tseketli" is, in that sense, something of a catch-all that designates shared origins more than it indicates any present-day similarities between groups.
The rise of New Xalotl drew attention to one formerly-isolated society, that of Toluca, but there are believed to be others that have persisted quietly in remote rainforests and deserts in the territories held by the Ceth Tseket, territories that include parts of present-day Norsivar, Solisvar, Oristhane, and the New Federation. As any surviving Tseketli communities are, by their very nature, isolated, estimating the number of people of this ethnic group is nearly impossible. Anti-Tseketon sentiment has rewarded and reinforced the isolation of these communities over time, and until more communities are rediscovered, it is difficult to make any generalizations about the extent to which classical Tseketon culture survives in contemporary Tseketli populations; the only community from which such conclusions might be drawn is Toluca. While so little is known about other Tseketli communities, no one can know whether or not Toluca is representative of other Tseketli populations, and thus, what patterns exist among Tseketli communities with respect to their relationship to the Ceth Tseket.

Terminology

The term "Tseketli" is used as an adjective (e.g., "Tseketli people"). The noun variant is "Tseketlin" (e.g., "Tseketlin are..."). The adjective "Tseketon" is used to reference the Ceth Tseket generally, while "Tseketli(n)" specifically refers to modern communities originating from the Ceth Tseket.

Tseketlin and Humanity

At least for the Xalotli people of Toluca, it is not yet clear that they are unambiguously human. While they are certainly neither elves nor orcs (neither of which appeared in the Ceth Tseket until shortly before its downfall, and both of which are absent from the Tolucan population), and they are not Otherborn (the prevalence of which among Tolucans appears to be zero), the Tolucan Tseketlin display certain characteristics that indicate some divergence from standard human physiology is standard among the population.
The Ceth Tseket had a well-established tradition of druidic transformation, in which the clerical and aristocratic classes would undergo rituals to take on characteristics of sacred animals, particularly snakes, jaguars, and falcons. Among the Tolucans, this tradition expanded early in the city's isolation, leading to the proliferation of minor transformation features among all levels of society. These magically-induced features appear to have become heritable at some point many centuries ago, as Tolucan birth records dating back to at least 1200 YW document births of infants with small patches of scales or feathers. It is estimated that about 70% of Tolucan Tseketlin have one or more inborn characteristics traditionally associated with druidic transformation. Small areas of scales or feathers are the most common (~45% of the population), then unusual pupil shapes and iris colors (~35%), then serpentine or feline fangs (~15%).
As such, at least the Tolucan population of Tseketli people, and possibly the people of other Tseketli communities, show enough divergence from human physiology to warrant questions about whether or not they ought to be recognized as human. For the time being, however, there is no category, except perhaps "Tseketli," within which these individuals fit more precisely.

Diverged ethnicities

• The Xalotli People

Encompassed species

• Humans

Related Locations

• Toluca