Rodłowi
The Rodłowi are a Yuskic people group present on Telgren, where they form a majority population in the Dzentrałkrin and Dennonia regions, as well as having minorities present in Giriþiuda and Vnutyr Relvetsia. A staunchly agrarian people group, much of their population is concentrated in small villages, around which fields stretch for miles. These villages are traditionally strongly autonomous, and their administration is managed by an elected village headman as opposed to a noble class. However, over time rising state power and oligarchism in the villages has eroded these elections and the power of the headman, leaving many without this position. In the modern day, village administration is often performed in a feudal, Blazennian-based manner. This, alongside religious reformation of the Wysoki Wyunałt religion have greatly centralized the Rodłowi states over the past few centuries, allowing them to be more enduring. Nonetheless, Voðeren raids have been the bane of centralists, as they disrupt trade and reduce trust in authorities due to the continuing inability of the Rodłowi to stop them.
Owing to their Yuskic lineage, the Rodłowi have fair skin, though their eye and hair color varies. Due to their historic decentralization, the Rodłowi are a fairly disparite people group and therefore have a number of different sub groups. These include the Spólństawan, Wyłsly Rodłowi, Atrajwołyn, Maryzynye, Nazchalz, Vedolía, Ghowyn, and Schódyal peoples.
Of the Rodłowi, the Spólństawan are currently the most powerful people group. Their range of settlement is generally from the foothills of the Dennonian highlands to the coast of Dzentrałkrin, situated in the far west of the latter region. The most historically centralized of the Rodłowi, the Spólństawan monarchs have been able to cultivate a unitary environment in part thanks to the efforts of Blazennian settlers, long invited into the nations as a stabilizing and centralizing influence. The Spólństawan region was the first to lose the traditionally elected headmen, who have long since been replaced by an entrenched nobility, many of whom control vast estates. Following the unification of Upper and Lower Spólństawo into the Kingdom of Spólństawo and their independence from the Kingdom of Krókłość, this noble class has made strong ties with the Blazennian nobility, and these contacts, alongside the influence of Blazennian settlers has led to the conversion of Spólństawo to the religion of Blazeology, though most of the population follows the bastardized Blazelukhó faith. Those who disagreed with the direction of the country have led the Kryzidian revolt, and the future of the country will depend on the ultimate outcome of this rebellion.
Though behind the Spólństawan in current influence, the Wyłsly Rodłowi have long been the forerunners of the Rodłowi culture. During the long rule of the Kingdom of Krókłość (which for many years styled itself as the Rodłowi Empire), this culture was pushed on all Rodłowi as the one correct culture of Rodłowis, leading to the extinction of many smaller cultures which hadn't retained their pre-sedantary tribal ties. In the present day, this culture can be found in the parts of Dzentrałkrin which fully integrated into the Empire, such as the former Principality of Alistród and most of the rest of the population within Krókłość's current borders. Due to the status of the Kingdom of Krókłość as a land power, the culture has little to no coastal influence, and the coastline consequentially remains the most diverse region of Rodłowi settlement.
One such group are the Maryzynye, who can be found along the western coast of Dzentrałkrin, roughly corresponding to the Spólństawan headland as well as the city of Augurówy and the mouth of the Azranen river. Besides the autonomous city and its hinterlands, the Maryzynye are a majority in the historical Spólństawan province of Cypcdek, which covers lands currently held by the Voðeren Røðendjem and the westernmost parts of Kyrzidia. Besides the large city of Augurówy, which has a mixed Spólństawan-Maryzynye population, the rest of the Maryzynye lands are dispersed, decentralized, and agrarian. Far away from the Spólństawan administrative centers, few outside the city have even been converted to the Blazelukhó faith. During the beginning of the Golden Age of Raiding, most towns were moved inland, to be outside of the view of Voðeren raiders and thus avoid sacking. The location of these towns was not particularly important, as the Maryzynye, despite being coastal have never had a strong naval tradition. During the alliance between Røðendjem and Spólństawo the locations became superfluous anyways, but with the actions of Røðendjem and its seizure of the headlands, this alliance has decisively been broken. What this means for the Maryzynye remains to be seen.
Also present along the coast are the Atrajwołyn, mostly found along the coast of Krókłość as well as the free cities of Styałystowa and Śwyzcśyzca. The Atrajwołyn are generally a romanticized people group who have played an outsized role in the region's. The League of Eight (see Krókłość) was entirely made up of Atrajwołyn members plus the city of Augurówy. A mostly urbanite and trade-based people group, they were instrumental in destroying Krókłość's Empire during the 1500s. However, in the centuries since, during the Golden Age of Raiding, they fell on hard times and several of their cities were devastated. However, the surviving cities have managed to monopolize Krókłość's commerce, enriching themselves to greater heights. The Atrajwołyn are well known, even stereotyped, for being physically attractive, and their cities have hosted the most expansive and profitable whore-houses in all of Telgren for centuries. In many cases, these houses have shaped the history of the region, particularly during the League of Eight and in the survival of Styałystowa and Śwyzcśyzca, which, "coincidentally" were the two cities with the finest "establishments".
An inland culture generally found to the east and south of the Wyłsly Rodłowi, the Nazchalz are an ancient culture that has largely been broken up into pockets by the Wyłsly Rodłowi, who were once Nazchalz. They trace much of their heritage back to the Nazchal Empire of the post-Oleandron period, and were once the dominant Rodłowi culture, covering all lands east of Lake Arcesiel. There are still some parts of western Krókłość that retain their Nazchal identities, but most have been subsumed by the Wyłsly Rodłowi culture. The Nazchalz is in some ways the original Rodłowi culture, with most other cultures diverging from it, and can be found scattered around from Pryzelfów to Nazchódów, with majorities in Varsodor-Allumyl and the Litewskzyc region of Krókłość. The Nazchalz, from their position on the eastern border of the Rodłowi have had a lot of cultural exchange with the Relvetsian people. The tradition of elected headmen began here, on the borders between the two people groups, and most of the Nazchalz retains them. The practice has only been eliminated in the regions recently conquered by Voðeren, who have decimated the Nazchalz.
To the south of the Nazchalz, in the North Arcesite Highlands, the Ghowyn people may be found. Their population of the region dates back only to the early 13th century, when the young Relvetsian Empire swept across the plains just north of these highlands. This prompted many of the people of the Principality of Allumyl to flee to the highlands, which previously was a mostly-neglected region known for bandits and brigands. There, they began diverging from the Nazchal, and also integrated some of the remaining Wesevölk of the Plaires Centralis, the remaining number of which fled across Lake Arcesiel to the highlands in the late 1200s. This led to a cultural tradition distinct from the other Rodłowi, and they remained independent until their rulers joined Krókłość's Rodłowi Empire in the 1300s. Following this, the monarchs returned to their old lands as a protectorate of the Empire, but many of the highlanders remained, as they were by now a distinct people. They were granted autonomy within the new protectorate of Varsodor-Allumyl. After the dissolution of the Rodłowi Empire in 1563, they became part of the independent Varsodor-Allumyl, where they have become a small but important part of the nation.
Further east than even the Nazchalz, the Schódyal are a group of Rodłowi who mostly live within Chernoyetsian (Relvetsian) lands and whose settlements date back far earlier than their neighbors. During the rise of the Nazchal Empire, lands in the east, including much of what is now Vnutyr Relvetsia, was part of the Rodłowi domain, while the migrations in the west had not yet finished and such lands were in flux. However, during their fall, and in the years after, the Rodłowi settlements in the region were conquered by a mix of centaur migrants and the Relvetsians. Eventually, the Relvetsian Empire gained dominion over all these lands, tapping the Chernoyetsian cossacks to rule the borderlands. During the purview of Krókłość, much of this land was later reconquered, and these Rodłowi were tapped as administrators over the now-majority Relvetsians. Resettlement programs were largely unsuccessful, leaving those in the region of Vnutyr Relvetsia as small pockets. During the fall of Krókłość's Empire, such lands were taken over once more by Relvetsia and the remaining Rodłowi settlements were largely left to their own devices. This has led to a divergent culture, where they have borrowed Relvetsian traditions and integrated well with the cossacks in particular. In times past, they could be noted for their particular reverence to the Wysoki Wyunałt faith when compared to the Old Oskutalukhóth Relvetsians. However, with the adoption of Wysoki Wyunałt by most Chernoyetsians, even this has begun to fade. Nonetheless, they can often be found in high church positions, though they seem doomed to further assimilation and cultural drift.
Finally, located in the southernmost reaches of Dzentrałkrin, the Vedolía are the majority culture. They are mostly confined to the eastern half of the Arcesiel Basin, where they have dwelled since their migration, though Vedolía populations may also be found higher up the slopes as Dzentrałkrin rises to meet Dennonia. They have some amount of Erleting influence, and were the only Rodłowi to avoid total conquest by the Krókłość, though many of their duchies were subjugated. Since then, they have consolidated into a single state, challenging the rising power of Spólństawo. Due to the relative isolation of their valley, they have retained elected village headmen, though they are generally ceremonial due to their duties overlapping with the large amount of petty nobility in the countryside.
Comments