Dinoraenes (DIE-NO-ray-ns)
This page refers to the Dinoraenic Ethnicity. For the Multiethnic Country, see Dinoranian Empire. For the biological race, see Dinoraene.
The Dinoraenes (Dinoranian: Ithei Dinòri, lit. '[human] Sons of Dinòra') are an ethnicity of paraterran humanoids hailing from the nearworld Voi III Dinòra.
The Dinoraenes are a people shrouded in mystery, with a lengthy history dating back thousands of years and spanning the 'Twin Ages' of the two worlds they have inhabited. Today, the largest known Dinoraenic population is on the Gateworld Gea, also called Gaia.
The Dinoraenes are the largest ethnic group in Dinorania, the Continent and State to which they give their name.
"[Them], those Ikhilkili, they are a strange folk."- Ar-lùr Orràd, the Slave-king of Ketra Magna, c. 2986 BCE
History
Little is known of the Planetary Dinoraenes’ origins. What little record of their former civilization remains is told in the Memoir of the Prophet Deijen, the poet Khusan’s Darieniyah, the Espa's Book of Creation, and what remains of the records and folklore of the Ouras Dinoraenes, mostly chiseled into ancient monuments and tombs. What is common between these sources is that they all suggest an advanced, spacefaring civilization that spanned the entire planet of Dinòra and its moon, before being defeated in battle with one or more otherworldly entities once deified by it, and having its people scattered across the cosmos. According to the Darieniyah, Dinòra's People were relentlessly industrious, and it is estimated that the Dinoraenic Planetary Civilization must have been a solid type 1 on the Kardashev Scale. There is evidence that the planet’s non-aquatic ecosystems had collapsed under the urban weight of the civilization, which, if the sources are correct, could easily have been the most advanced human civilization known to have existed. There is much evidence that the Dinoraenes created a thriving ecosystem of 'living machines' called Thykanopes, many of which were enslaved beasts of burden subservient to the ruling Aujenid Dynasty, and upon which the Dinoraenes became dependant for immense quantities of tasks.The Advent of the Dinoraenes
The Dinoraenes arrived on the Gateway World of Gea Anhe in the 39th Century BCE, following an event loosely recollected by the prophet Deijen in his memoirs known as 'the War on the Old Gods,' during which Deijen's father, the transcendental King Aujen II Haras, declared himself a god, and attempted to 'bring war to the uncaring heavens.' Details about the events of the War are scanty, with the only reliable primary source in existence being Deijen's brief testimony in Memoirs of an Old King, completed a year before his death in 2944 BCE. Deijen fled the conflict before its offensives began in earnest, and was subsequently caught in a violent cosmic storm ('The Great Cataclysm') that allegedly lasted a hundred years, propelling the slumbering Deijen's Voidship, as well as many others containing thousands of Dinoraenic refugees, towards the Sitellar Anje Solar System, where they soon found themselves on an barren world, which they named Gijya Anje - Gea Anhe, meaning 'Cruel World.' The Dinoraenic Refugees, as they are known, spent many years wandering the Great Desert in search of water. It is estimated that a third of the lowbloods among them died of thirst until an oasis was found in what is now Western Orsuland. The Dinoraenes were quick to settle and they, aided by their powerful Thykanopes, constructed a rudimentary settlement named Ouras Dinòroch (meaning 'Firstborn of Dinòra'), often shortened to Ouras in modern scholarship. This period in Dinoranian History is known as the Predynastic or Ourasian Period.The Predynastic or Ourasian Period
Ouras Dinòroch began as a minor colony surrounding the Hudr Oasis. The vast majority of Dinoraenic Refugees in the 38th century had flocked to the Hudr, the only source of water for thousands of miles. The Dinoraenes of Dinòra were so advanced a species, that they relied on their Thykanopes for most of their labor. Everything from Farming and Construction to Art and Warfare was carried out by the machine-scripts of the Thykanopes, and even the poorest of lowblood Dinoraenes performed an average of two hours of manual labor a day, usually soft, intricate labor such as weaving and cooking that could not be reliably performed by the Machines. Therefore, upon their arrival on Gea, the Dinoraenes had to take it upon themselves to perform the many tasks that their Thykanope servants would have performed on Dinòra, especially considering the few surviving machines brought with them from the Fleet were mostly defunct in a matter of years after Ouras's foundation. The Ourasians practiced a traditional Dinoraenic Elective Monarchy, wherein the Elected King (Aukaron) was chosen by the people through a rudimentary form of democracy. The Dinoraenes, as immortals, did not have mortal Kings, and therefore little in the manner of hereditary monarchy until the Aujenid Dynasty, which discarded the elective traditions. Aujen's greed was widely regarded as the downfall of the Dinoraenes, and his hereditary system was shunned by the Ourasians. Instead, each Ourasian King reigned for a thirty-year period, after which he could be re-elected or replaced. There were no Dynasties in the Ourasian Period, hence its designation as the Predynastic Period. Beneath the King were ten chieftains, who were the heads of the settlement's ten districts.The Credian Myth
In the Ouras Dinoranian Folklore, Kredijan Madiroch (often Latinized to Credius) was a tragic hero who attempted to cross the desert after the Great Cataclysm had brought him to Gea from a high-ranking ship of the Aujenid Fleet. He realized too late that his shoes were too dense for the surface, and he gradually sunk into the bottomless sand, doomed to drown there forever, tortured by the choking dust that filled his body like water, and never to be given the mercy of death. Eventually, in his helpless suffering, he realized just how alone and powerless he was, and found a macabre sort of peace in it. The Credian Myth mirrors the Early Gean Dinoraenes' attitudes to the predicament they found themselves in. They, a formerly highly advanced and esteemed race, were thrown onto a strange and cruel world, the conditions of which they had never evolved to survive, and were slowly consumed by it. They realized now, in the depths of the desert that they were truly alone, and doomed to a fate of eternal waiting. Instead of being pessimistic, the Ouras Dinoraenes adopted a sardonic sort of amor fati, often drawing hope from the satirization of their forefathers' hubris, as well as their own sheer misfortune, amongst themselves, resulting in the bittersweet and contemptuous nature of the early Ourasian myths. However, a key aspect of the Credian Myth was Kredijan's Loneliness, an ubiquitous common theme underlying the façade of contempt throughout the Ouras Mythology and Culture. The Ourasians were convinced they were alone in the boundless desert. This would soon change.'Shaddar, Sideri and Sorrùn: first contact with outsiders
Sometime in the late 39th Century BCE, Ouras was attacked by a group of raiders known to them as 'Shaddar ('Devils'). They were described with great enmity by the Ourasians, with one commonly cited sample being the Kajohudrir Inscription. According to an 18th Century Translation:"[they are] the very Oil-bleeders* of Devils(!)
Hulking men as tall as three, bearded and
ever-grimacing with fanged countenance,
Burned and Buried be the 'Shaddar(!)"
*It was believed that the blood of the most savage of devils consisted primarily of oil.
Ouras was razed by the 'Shaddar, whom pillaged the entire oasis, taking almost everything of value and carrying off the Ouras Thykanopes as well as a large quantity of water, which they siphoned off into an enormous barrel that they took with them back into the desert.
The Dinoranian Civilization on Gea was, essentially, strangled in the cradle, until the arrival of another raiding party, this time of Dinoraenic origin. They were called Sideri ('Wanderers,' also translated as 'Protectors') as, the moment they realized their shared heritage with the Ourasians, they swore to defend them against further 'Shaddar incursions. They succeeded in doing so, and it is attested in the Script of the Firstborn that the Sideri leader, a woman named Akshasis, "had slain so many devils, that a mountain could have been built of their severed heads." Walls made of reeds and palm-wood were erected, and many huts burnt down by the invaders were rebuilt, reinforced and fortified.
'Shaddar incursions ceased after the intervention of the Sideri, whom ushered in a new era of prosperity for the recovering settlement. Akshasis was crowned Queen of Ouras, and she enjoyed a successful albeit brief reign alongside her younger brother, Akkredon, whom is said to have usurped her shortly after her sixth year on the throne had ended.
Ouras Dinòroch quickly grew around the oasis, becoming the first true Dinoraenic city by the mid 38th Century BCE. The makeshift reed 'walls,' within a few decades, became great stone palisades, towering over the desert plains. The Ourasians experienced a cultural revival, marked by advances in pottery, music and exciting new stories in the Ourasian oral tradition which, for the first time, were transcribed using the newly-developed Old Dinoraenic Cuneiform, which developed from its planetary ancestor into Ancient Dinoranian. Tales of a world beyond the desert were introduced by the Sideri, and they captured the public imagination. explorations beyond the Oasis began, at first timidly, then in full force. The Ahanid (Expeditionary Party) became a staple of Ourasian Culture, with families sending their strongest members into the vast expanses in search of fertile land, other peoples, and precious resources. Agriculture advanced, and great farms were carved and tilled, for the first time, by hand. A crowned male figure dressed in Sideri armor, assumed to be Akkredon is depicted on old clay potsherds carving dikes out of the oasis. The population expanded hundredfold in a matter of decades, and advances in construction and structural engineering saw many buildings erected that have endured in part to the present day, most famously the Temple of Ayanna in Odharrad.
Though the Ourasians were zealous in their expansions and explorations, the vast and cruel desert remained a sinkhole of aspiration, and it seemed to swallow the childlike dreams of the Dinoraenes. The lonely pessimism of the past often reared its head amongst the populace, which is mirrored in contemporary art and inscriptions. That was, until the river was found.
Gift of the Chirē: Ouras and Eriheru
The Ouras Oasis was first thought to be the product of rainwater, but, when the Ourasians discovered an underground river leading up to it, a few set out to find the river's source, led by the hardy and ambitious chieftain Sdais of Ouras.Damograen and Deijen
Culture and Religion
The Tenets of Dinoraenic Culture
Religion of the Old Dinoraenes
The Udryco-Dinoranian Pantheon
Lesser Gods and Cænir
The Cults of Ouras
The Rise and Fall of Chirene Paganism
Sithenian and Erolic Influences on Dinoranian Mythology
The Deijenic Religion
Lauko
The Culture of the Laukene Commune and the Dinoraenic Kingdoms, c. 3730 - 3149
'The Eyternium of God'
St. Darian and the Esparad
'The Postclassical Dinoraene'
Dejnus III and the Kolsagadt Period
In the Eyes of Others
"...and let not our sons and daughters be touch'd by t'barbarian envious of eye, Protect us from the pagan, from the men that are fell, base and wild."The Dinoraenes are regarded with wildly varying attitudes. To some terrans, they are saviors and brothers, to others, they are elitists and aliens. To the historic enemies of Dinorania, they are widely hated, while to her historic allies, they are regarded as the first race among its equals.from the Sagarespa, 'The Prayer of Iron.'
Exonyms throughout history
The Dinoraenes, as a race, were known by various names by the others, most famously as Ekelkle to the Keterene Australs (from Ketric Ikhilkili, meaning 'glistening (soldiers),' referring to the polished scale-mail armor of the Dinoranian Immortals). To the peoples of the West, they are the Felothri, 'the Bastard-tongues,' or simply Felthi, 'the Bastards,' a mockery of their multiethnic identity and cosmopolitan language. To the Peoples of the Far East, they are the Metelis' Kaijan, the 'Third Race,' and to the Northerners they (in addition to all terrans) are the Glaur-vitrem, the 'White-eyed-ones.'Naming Traditions
Family names
Dinoraenes of the Predominant Culture were typically given a first name followed by a Patronymic and, if of high blood, a House name and honorific title.
e.g: Deijen Aujenoch Va'Dinòras would be Deijen, son of Aujen, of the Line of Dinòras.
This naming tradition persists among modern-day Dinoraenes, though they have adopted many terran and rhomazon conventions as well due to ethnic admixture in various regions of the former and current Dinoranian Empire.
Encompassed species
Related Organizations
Languages spoken
Comments