The Emensi Peoples of Sunar

Imperial Peoples: The Emensi

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The Emensi

THE EMENSI PEOPLES

Appearance

The Emensi 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 Emensi, and others are all considered related and subordinate to the Drumidians, despite them maintaining their own distinct and highly unrelated societies and culture.
As mentioned, the Emensi usually have a very dark complexion, with their skin often times being compared to charcoal in coloration. A handful of Emensi tribes have even been called the darkest skinned people in the world, as they present a pigmentation far darker than the other peoples categorized under the patronizing title of Great Drumidian. Like their dark skinned neighbors though, the Emensi in general tend to display large broad, or flat noses, that are largely standard in appearance across each tribe.
The Emensi are furthermore of a fairly average height, with most coming in between 5'7 to 6 feet in height, making them comparable to the neighboring Sunarians.

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. Despite this rarity though, there are legends and myths among the Emensi of certain extinct tribes having a dark red hair color, though these are unverified.
Emensi hair is very kinky, and is often allowed to grow out by men who partially braid it. In the case of women hairstyle is determined largely by what stage of life they are going through. Young girls, until married, often let their hair grow long, and keep it in braids, whereas, older, or married women do the opposite, keeping their hair cut very short.

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Population and Geographic Location

Today there are roughly 100,000 people of Emensi ethnicity within the Sunarian Empire, and most are spread out across the slums of Upper Sunar's numerous cities. A small number also continue to live in the Emensi homeland, Emensis, but they do so in isolation and number barely a fraction of the total population; as such they are rarely taken into account.
Unlike the Drumidians, the Emensi never unified beyond their tribes and as such are in truth a wide number of peoples all jumbled together for their shared origin in Emensis. The Emensi today, continue to associate in this way, maintaining their own chieftains, religions, customs and dress, all the while living in dense urban centers surrounded by urban Sunarians.

Language

Most Emensi do not speak Imperial Sunarian fluently, even though they have resided within the empire for centuries. Instead most speak a wide variety of tribal languages, that they have stubbornly maintained even outside their ancestral homeland. This has caused them, a spectacular amount of tension between them and their Sunarian oppressors, who view them as barbarians.

History and Influence

The Emensi have a very tense relationship with the Sunarians, the empire, and even the Drumidians, that goes back millennia.
Related loosely to the tribes of the Kamvali Rainforest, the Emensi have a long history of being raided and bullied by their Drumidian neighbors. These hostile relations would reach their pinnacle after the Drumidians took power in Sunar and invaded Emensis. Subjugating the tribes with the utmost brutality, the Drumidians enslaved many of the Emensi and were only stopped in their abuse, when the Zanarids invaded and captured most of the Drumidian Empire.
Real development of Emensis would only really begin under the Kamovarni Dynasty who retook the region and built a system of roads connecting it to the capital at Sunas. This project was undertaken to support a series of wars against Kamet, however, they also had the effect of opening Emensis up to the overpopulated imperial heartland. As such the highly fertile hills of Emensis became a haven for Sunarians wishing to escape the crowded urban life of the empire's urban center. Over the next millennia thousands of Sunarians flocked to Emensis, where they quickly got to work settling the untapped frontier.
This migration had devastating repercussions for the Emensi though, who’s villages and hunting grounds were destroyed to make way for vast fields of wheat and grain. This belligerence towards the native people was answered by numerous Emensi rebellions, that cost numerous lives on both sides of the conflict. In each case, however, the primitive natives were defeated by the settlers, who carried out retaliatory massacres to avenge their losses. Because of these ethnic cleansings, the Emensi population diminished greatly over the course of several centuries, dropping to a point where it was no longer, safe or practical for them to continue living in Emensis. Most would make the arduous trek north into the empire’s heartland as a result, abandoning their homeland in their search of work, food, and security.
Today almost all of the surviving Emensi tribes live in Upper Sunar, where they reside in the urban slums of major cities as some of the poorest of the poor. Refusing to assimilate, the Emensi maintain their tight knit tribal communities even in the most tightly packed of cities, enforcing their own laws and customs upon their people. This practice has been beginning to wane in recent times though, as younger generations are finding it more beneficial to fit into the mold of Sunarian society, with some even passing themselves off as Drumidian to try and escape the stigma of their heritage.

Citizenship

The Emensi face a very hard time within the empire, as they often refuse to adopt Sunarian customs, and are easily distinguished by their language, dress and mannerisms. Because of this refusal to fit in, the Emensi hold no status in the empire, and are considered non-denizens by the government. As a result, they are forced to live in the impoverished slums of the empire's many cities, where they lack any form of basic rights.

Work and Economic Level

Dwelling within the cities of the empire, where work is easier to find, the Emensi struggle to actually obtain employment, thanks to the difficulty they have in speaking Imperial Sunarian. The Emensi are furthermore given a bad reputation by most Sunarians, who view them as lazy savages or thieves, and thus do not trust them.

Religion

The Emensi do not properly worship any of the organized religions within the empire, and largely follow the beliefs of their ancestry, which are numerous, and highly unorganized in nature. Incredibly diverse, the best way of describing the faith practiced by the Emensi is polytheistic, though even this is not universal as dogmatic, monotheistic creeds also exist.

Sunarian Perception of the Emensi

The Emensi are not viewed in a good light by the Sunarians who see them as a problematic burden on the empire. While most do not call for an outright expulsion, or cleansing of them from the empire, the majority of Sunarians have little patience for the Emensi’ refusal to assimilate, and feel it is long overdue.

The Emensi Perception of Sunarians

The Emensi despise Sunarians and view them as an evil people who took everything of value from them. Resentful over the loss of their homeland and their current situation in Sunar, the Emensi refuse to assimilate, or admit defeat, with some tribes even going so far as to plot for the liberation of Emensis. These groups are few and far between though, and by and large the Emensi spirit is broken, with more and more of its young people adopting Sunarian customs.

Cultural or Ethnic Mixing

Among the Emensi next to no intermixing exists between them and the Sunarians. This entirely because of the strong dislike either group has for each other, which stigmatizes even the most basic of interactions. Assimilation is furthermore, essentially non existent, as the Emensi refuse to give up their traditions and culture, which ensures they never fit into the wider Sunarian population.

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