Boreagros

Boreagros (Northern Realm) was the name for the continent of Eracura as it was known in Hellenic Syara. Due to its close proximity to Syara, the continent of Eracura had been known to the Syarans since before the age of Archaic Syara, and inscriptions referencing the continent as "lands across the sea" belonging to the Aleitians make it clear that knowledge of Eracura and its separation from Siduri originated either during or before the Bronze Age. This in turn led to the labeleing of the Sundering Sea as the "Divide", signifying the distinction between Eracura and Siduri.

The ancient Syaran conception of Eracura evolved over the course of history, from a largely mythical land at the edge of the world to a more grounded view of the continent as a form a natural geographic symmetry to Siduri. Boreagros was often invoked as a location of exotic and mystical status in ancient Syaran mythology.

Etymology

Boreagros directly translates into northern realm. The exact origin of the term is uncertain, but by the time of Ancient Makedon it had come into common usage across Syara. The usage of the term agros, meaning land or realm, is noted by some historians as being unusual, as it is the same term used to describe the territory of the Makedonian Empire. The first time the term appears in the historical record however predates the establishment of the Acrean Empire, suggesting that the term "agros" and its usage as a political domain was a development of language rather than an initial definition.

History

The earliest known contact between ancient Syara and Eracura was through the Gruri, an ancient people that inhabited the southern coast of present-day Górska. Contact between the Aleitians and the Gruri started sometime between 1,500-1,300 BCE and was defined by both trade and conflict. While the Aleitians' exposure to Eracura was largely limited to the Gruri, the Dovossians of western Syara (present-day Scitaria) took to the seas and formed a major maritime influence between the Symmerian Peninsula of north-west Siduri and south-west Eracura.

The ancient Syaran perception of Eracura throughout Archaic Syara was largely limited to exposure between Górska and to a lesser extent the southern coast of Æþurheim. As a result the view of Eracura, or Boreagros as it came to be known towards the 6th Century BCE, was that of a continuous land until it reached the end of the world. Knowledge of Eracura beyond the south-west "corner" thus was limited and was often seen as a place of mythological existence or exotic environments.

By the age of Classical Syara knowledge of Boreagros had increased as Syaran sailors from the Kydonian League and Ancient Makedon began sailing through the Sundering and Sanguine Seas, expanding Syaran knowledge of the ecumene, or known world. This world view was further influenced by contacts with other ancient tribes and nations, including the Kartozan, Ruvelkans, and the Seyhad of Mansuriyyah. By the 7th or 6th Centuries interaction and exchanges of information with other nations of antiquity had further shaped the Syaran worldview; by then many prominent Syaran scientists, such as Androcles recognized the world was a globe and that Siduri was a continent surrounded by bodies of water on all sides.

Knowledge of Eracura, now firmly established in the ancient Syaran lexicon as Boreagros, remained scarce. Syaran sailors had by know traveled as far east as Serikos and thus were aware that Eracura was completely separated from Siduri and was its own landmass. Many Syarans believed that Boreagros extended northward until it reached the "throat of the world", essentially the North Pole, and that much of the continent consisted of frozen wasteland. Many details of Boreagros remained shrouded in mystery, especially regarding the eastern portion of the continent. A more complete view of the continent would not come into common perception until the end of the last Millennia BCE, owing in large part to the rise of the Acrean Empire.

By the First Century CE the Syarans of the Makedonian Empire largely viewed Boreagros as a sort of "mirror" of Siduri, essentially a northern version of the continent the Syarans resided on. The rise of the Acrean Empire, which in many ways seemed like a Boreagros counter-part to Makedon, further cemented this view. Trade, diplomatic contact, and exchanges of goods and information between the Acreans and Makedonians eventually led to a more complete view of Boreagros, eventually setting the stage for the modern Syaran understanding of Eracura.

Tribes

Owing to their close proximity to Boreagros, the ancient Syarans had close contact with the various tribes that inhabited the continent, and indirectly interacted with many of the other peoples across Eracura. This led to a sometimes accurate, sometimes inaccurate, perception of the tribes of Boreagros.

• The Gruri were the inhabitants of southern Górska and the earliest contact between the tribes of Boreagros and Syara, marked by mutual hostility and conflict. The Gruri had a reputation as marauders and brigands among the Syarans, especially the Aleitians. They had a close relationship with the Zeliat of Chryse, but following the decline of their island-based allies the Gruri too entered into obscurity and faded from history. They were eventually replaced by the Bosrei.

• The Bosrei were a Nordic people likely distantly related to the other Nordic peoples of Acrea and Delkora. They settled in present-day Górska sometime during the 1st Millennia BCE and afterwards remained there until they were Slavicized by the Kingdom of Dragovita. The Bosrei had a hostile relationship with the Makedonian Empire for most of its existence and conflicts between the two were frequent owing to Hellenic colonization of Górska.

• The Pyrreans was the name given for the Celtic tribes that inhabited western Eracura around present-day Shalum and some norther parts of Æþurheim. Pyrrean is derived from the word for fire, pyros, a referring to the red hair common among many Celtic people. Knowledge of the Pyrreans was largely derived from Scitarian tribes that sailed along the western coast of Boreagros; direct contact between them and other groups of Syarans like the Kydonians and the Makedonians was likely very limited, if it existed at all. The ancient Syarans noted the Pyrreans were forced from their lands sometime between the 3rd and 2nd Century BCE, affirming the period of the "Mourning Wars".

• The Ispori referred to the proto-Slavic inhabitants of Svinia sometime between 300 BCE to 400 CE. Direct contact between the Ispori and the Syarans was limited owing to the Ispori presence largely being located inland away from the coastal settlements and ports Syaran sailors and merchants frequented. The Ispori are referenced only sparingly following the rise of the Acrean Empire, though they were correctly identified as the predecessors of the Kingdom of Dragovita by Syarans in late antiquity.

• The original identity people the ancient Syarans knew as Xathonans is uncertain. It eventually became a name for the Acreans or at least inhabitants of their empire, but its first iteration predates the formation of the Acrean Empire by over a century. It most likely emerged as a generic descriptor for all Nordic peoples, of which the Syarans would not have had direct contact with during the 1st Millennia BCE. By the time of direct contact with the Acrean Empire and the widespread extent of Nordic people across Boreagros, Xathonan likely became a default demonym for the Empire itself, as the Bosrei were not considered among its members.