SC.2023.05. Moniqan Exiles
Upon the completion of the battle of Minao Island, many both on Minao Island and elsewhere on the Moniqan mainland, found themselves in bad odour with then-current leadership. The disastrous conduct of the war, for all it's brevity, had been protested in the streets and alleys of Sook Zenith. The government of Moniq cracked down on protesters, thinking them foreign agitators, not the ideologically motivated locals that they were. The crackdown went on for a protracted period, leading to much unhappiness on one of the most fertile, generous lands in all of Arnd.
Many of those on Minao Island breathed a breath of relief upon hearing that Kagomei would not be trading them back to Moniq. Others fled to various Eurani Nations, nearby Tsou or Goghur, hoping the cultural divide would be possible to breach, while the conduct of each nation during the conflict: arbitration, neutrality or furious protest, was seen by desirable by a particular group of exiles.
While publicly disdaining the departing Moniqi, many who remained lauded their bravoury behind closed doors, wishing disapproval of the regime wasn't the thoughtcrime it was then. These people who were less discreet about their approval of the exiles or disapproval of the regime soon joined them, as the Then-Hunarch punished such behaviour with exile, and made it retroactively apply to those who had left, promising they'd never be allowed back.
Deeply unhappy at this state of affairs, but lacking legal standing under Moniqan law after their exile, the then landless refugees spread over Eurania and Asirania, concentrating in Alessia, Lolland, Grand Unified Kingdom of Breizh...., Tsou, Goguryeo and a smaller group in Kagomei, but with the population that didn't leave Minao Island, the ethnicity is quite possibly strongest there. Trading local fishes, both riverine and oceanic, with their southern neighbours, Minaoans see this as making the best of a bad situation, and while being in Moniq would be culturally preferrable, they do appreciate the tolerance for diversity that the Kagomine display.
A full million were displaced in total, over a period of three decades, and this created the phenomenon now known as the asiranian culture-mixer, where so many people were displaced, it had cultural, economic, demographic and ecologic impact. For instance, a few traditions we now think as throughly tsou in origin were formed by second-generation Moniqi or half-Moniqi immigrants of Minaoan extraction, such as bathing being associated with song-syncing.
Other impacts led to greater consumption of riverine fish in Alessia, which had been unfashionable, until sold-out labels started appearing for it, which made it all the rage. This, and accidental introduction of River Gaigang to Alessian rivers led to that fish becoming a feared predator in their waters. Minaoans often attempted, with limited success to tame otters, while they were never fully successful, a small, stable, standing population of them were attracted close to a few cities in Goguryeo with larger Moniqi populations. However, the pressure on local fish populations in these areas led to population pressure on the otters. When moving, a Moniqi couple that had migrated to Goguryeo would make a decision that would have consequences: they tried to take their two adopted Mandarin Otter couples with them. Playful to a fault, the otters capsized the boat, and led to injury to one of their benefactors, who realized how much of a bad idea this was, but the otters had escaped, to Kagomei's Lilleath region, and settled there, raising brood after brood, which now number nearly one hundred individuals.
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