The Drumidian People of Sunar

Imperial Peoples: The Drumidians

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The Drumidians

THE DRUMIDIAN PEOPLE

Appearance

The Drumidians are one of the numerous dark skinned peoples dwelling throughout the world's southern reaches. Because of the Drumidian's prominence, this greater racial group is often labeled by Sunarians, and the wider world, as the Great Drumidian race. For this reason peoples such as the O'sairi, Kamvali, Ukhumbi and Emensi, are all considered related and subject to the Drumidians, despite them maintaining their own distinct and highly unrelated societies and culture.

As mentioned, Drumidians are usually of a dark skin color that while not as dark as the people of Emensis, or as light as the O'sairi, tends to rest somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. Standing out from their "cousins" Drumidians display a bit of variation in regards to their noses, with cases of both broad-flat and narrow-sharp noses occurring in almost equal in frequency. This is believed to be caused by over a millennia of contact, and relations with the men and women of Upper Sunar, by which interbreeding has left both groups racially intermixed. The Sunarians of Upper Sunar in parallel are known to possess a far darker skin coloration then their brethren to the north, stemming directly from a Drumidian presence in their racial makeup. Despite this racial blending, hundreds of thousands of Drumidians actively live and work within the empire, and identity solely as Drumidians, indicating that a line, however blurry, does still distinguish the two groups in today's empire.
The Great Drumidians, and Drumidians by extension, are considered to be racially distinct from the men and women of Zanzilore, however, who universally possess sharp, or narrow noses among other distinctions. The origin of this specific trait is largely unknown, as very little over land contact exists between them and the Great Drumidians or the Sunarians. As such the empire has defined them as a distinct, and unique people group, who's origin remains illusive.
In regards to height the Drumidians are widely hailed as the tallest people in the known world, with most reaching heights between 6 to 6'5 feet. This large build has partially led to the Drumidians developing a reputation for being strong and intimidating fighters, who often find no trouble signing up in the imperial military.
Dark hair seems to be a universal, or standard trait among all Great Drumidian peoples, with red or blonde hair being exceptionally rare, to the point of almost being nonexistent. Drumidian hair in particular is famously kinky, but is often kept quite short by the men, and woven into braids in the case of women.
This serves as a another divergence from the dark skinned people of Zanzilore, who's hair is famously straight, and course.

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Population and Geographic Location

Today there are just under 800,000 people of Drumidian ethnicity within the Sunarian Empire, and they are spread out across the empire's southern territories, primarily throughout Upper Sunar. This is rather ironic, as it means more Drumidians dwell in the Sunarian Empire, than Drumidia itself, where the country's population has steadily been in decline for centuries.

Language

The overwhelming majority of Drumidians speak Imperial Sunarian, and this extends to those still living within the sovereign, and independent Kingdom of Drumidia, on the empire’s southern border. The main reason for this is that Drumdia has for the bulk of imperial history been part of the Sunarian Empire, and only broke away when the Valoni invaded Sunar. As such any trace of some ancient Drumidian language, has long since faded into obscurity. The men and women of Drumidia do speak with a noticeable dialect, however, which may contain some traces of the long forgotten native language.

History and Influence

Of the main minorities within the modern empire, only two can really claim to have ever properly ruled it for a significant span of time. The Drumidians, are one of them. Ruling for well over a hundred years, their reign would be a glorious one, of war and victory, that saw Sunar expand its borders far into Emensis and Kamet.
Despite their eventual fall from power, good things would continue for the Drumidians as imperial rule allowed them access to a wider market, and allowed them to migrate freely from the harsh, and rocky highlands of their homeland. Large scale migrations would occur in this age, which saw a vast number of Drumidians leave Drumidia, for the more hospitable plains of Upper Sunar. Because of this population loss though, Drumidia began to lag behind the rest of the empire, and gradually turned into what it is today, a backwater.
Economically troubled the modern Kingdom of Drumidia is plagued by a geographic dilemma. Surrounded on all sides by either the empire, rainforest, or desert, there are no routes in and out of the country that do not rely entirely on the good will of the Sunarian emperor. Making these issues all to more problematic, is the fact that despite the problems independence has caused for the kingdom, the rulers of Drumidia stubbornly cling to their sovereignty and do nothing to solve the turmoil. For this reason many Drumidians have simply abandoned the struggling country, and migrated north into the empire to join the substantial Drumidian minority there.
Within Sunar, the Drumidians do not bare much influence and rarely exert their prominent position in the empire's military. Fine with assimilating into the more urbanized culture of Sunar, Drumidians are a highly content lot, who receive good treatment by and large from the Sunarians. For this reason, they are surprisingly quiet for an ethnic minority of their size.

Citizenship

Drumidians, be they longtime residents or newcomers, often obtain status as an imperial denizen with ease as many are fully capable of speaking Imperial Sunarian, and after a millennia of coexistence can blend flawlessly into Sunarian society. Truthfully, in public, the only real way of telling a Drumidian and Sunarian apart, is their dress, and skin color. One big reason for this is the diaspora of Drumidians in the empire, most gained their status not through the process of immigration; but instead obtained it through their birth, arriving from a long line of Drumidian denizens of the empire.

Work and Economic Level

The Drumidians often find employment as laborers or within the imperial military as soldiers. This has established them into a stable economic class, that while small and relatively insignificant, is nonetheless a widely respected people group for their ability to adapt into Sunarian society. While there are few Drumidians in the bureaucracy, there are large number of them at all levels of the Imperial Military.

Religion

The bulk of Drumidians practice the Faith of Sunemrah, blending rather fluidly into the main population. This factor stems largely from their longevity within the empire, which saw the older religions of Drumidia lost significance over a millennia ago.

Sunarian Perception of Drumidians

The Drumidians are largely perceived as an honorable people by the Sunarians, who see them as the ideal when it comes to minority groups within the empire. As such Sunarians believe a special friendship of sorts exists between the two ethnic groups that is unparalleled in Sunarian history.

Drumidian Perception of Sunarians

Where the Sunarians see Drumidians as the ideal example of cultural assimilation, and think of them as loyal allies, the Drumidians see it very differently. Geographically cut off by the Sunarian Empire, migration and assimilation were a necessary sacrifice for the Drumidians if they wanted to prosper in a Sunarian world. As a result of this unique situation, the Drumidians often see Sunarians as being full of themselves, but are willing to put up with it for a place in the Sunarian Empire.

Cultural or Ethnic Mixing

Distinct from Sunarians by their darker complexion, and broader noses, pure blooded Drumidians are quite rare in the Sunarian Empire, as over a millennia of side by side living has destroyed any sort of stigma there may have once been around interracial relationships. As this suggests, interbreeding between Sunarians and Drumidians is incredibly common in the country, and there exists no real stigma in the pairing. In fact, most Sunarians are believed to possess a sizable percentage of Drumidian ancestry, because of the wide divergence in skin coloration between the darker skinned people of Upper Sunar and the lighter, olive skinned people of Lower Sunar.
For this reason, any pure blooded Drumidian in the empire, is often times a new arrival to the country, who is usually a first generation immigrant from the Kingdom of Drumidia in the south.

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