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Tenerians

ⴽⴻⵍ ⵜⴻⵏⴻⵔⴻ
Tenerian men in traditional desert dress.
Total population
23,900,000
Charnea	18,900,000
Talahara	3,080,000
Tyreseia	665,000
Mutul	240,000
Alanahr	175,000
Latium	150,000
Kayahallpa	40,000
Languages
Tamashek
Religion
Tamddaism
Related ethnic groups
Other Amaziɣs

The Kel Tenere (Tamashek: ⴽⴻⵍ ⵜⴻⵏⴻⵔⴻ), also known as the Tenerians, are an Amaziɣ ethnic group of nomadic origin indigenous to central Scipia and the Ninva desert. They have historically inhabited parts of Talahara, southern Tyreseia, parts of Alanahr and the whole of Charnea. The term Kel Tenere translates to "People of the Desert" and is used by the Tenerians to differentiate themselves from the non-Amaziɣ ethnic groups in the modern day Charnea. Today most of those who self identify as Kel Tenere are have become urbanized and transitioned to a modern sedentary lifestyle, while a minority have retained the ancestral condition of nomadism and continued to live in the open desert with few modern comforts. Although both urban and nomadic Tenerian people inhabit all the regions of Charnea, the urban subculture is termed the Southern Tenerians while their nomadic cousins are termed Northerners, based on the geographic relationship between the major metropolitan center of Agnannet and the central expanse of the Ninva desert north of Agnannet. The ancestral Kel Tenere united under a powerful chieftain Ihemod the Inheritor, who went on to establish the Charnean Empire in the latter half of the 14th century.Today, a significant portion of those who are considered Tenerian in the modern day are of Ikelan origin, the descendants of slaves taken by the Charneans during the Ihemodian conquests who subsequently assimilated into the Tenerian culture. In the modern day, Tenerian society and culture is deeply defined by its role within the nation of Charnea as the centerpiece of national identity and as the principal component of ethno-linguistic assimilation of internal and external immigrants.

History

The Tenerians, as with all Amaziɣ groups, find their origins in the ancient proto-Amaziɣ polity of Tamazgha which streached across much of modern day Talahara and western Charnea. The people of Tamazgha were a settled culture practicing agriculture through the use of advanced irrigation techniques to tap the subterranean fossil water reserves under the Ninva desert. The fall of Tamazgha, referred to in Charnea as the "Lesson of Ekelhoc", was perpetuated by the drop in the aquifers on which the Tamazigh cities relied leading to the collapse of the political confederation and the fracturing of the Amaziɣ people into distinct groups. Those who moved to the north of the former Tamazgha, towards the more arable coast and remained sedentary agriculturalists became the ancestors of the Talaharan groups, while those who remained in the Ninva desert became the ancestral Tenerians. The Kel Tenere thereby trace their origins to the fall of Tamazgha in late antiquity, an occurence which scattered their ancestors across the Ninva and motivated their transition to a pastoralist lifestyle gaining sustenance mainly from herds of camels and goats capable of surviving where crops such as flax or barley could not.

This early Tenerian society placed great significance on the membership of individuals within a structure of clans and of castes within those clans. This development was closely tied with the transition to a nomadic lifestyle, as the extended kinship group, the clan, became the primary unit of society. At the top of the social hierarchy were the nobles of the clan, in particular the heads of the main lineages and those families who served as their vassals. The noble caste were the only ones allowed to carry weapons such as takobas, spears and bows, and would be responsible for protecting the clan and its herd from rivals and predators. The vassals were primarily responsible for tending to the animals which served as the main source of sustenance. Below them, an artisan class worked leather, wood and metal to craft weapons, tools, clothing and other items needed in the camp. Finally, the lowest rung of the early Tenerian society were the Ikelan, the slave caste which lived in semi-sedentary conditions tending the crops of the clan's limited agricultural activities as well as mining the materials needed by the artisan class. During this era, the Ikelan were primarily other Tenerians captured from rival clans during raids, and only occasionally were foreign war captives. The clans were organized into political confederations of their own, with several clans taking part and electing an Amenokal to serve as paramount chieftain. Major confederations included the Kel Atram, the Kel Ajej and the Kel Awakar, which would last from the mid 1st millennium to the eve of the Teralwaq in the 1350s.

The Teralwaq, the famine and turmoil produced by the Siriwang Eruption and the subsequent volcanic winter, promoted the rise to power of Ihemod the Inheritor. Ihemod was a former slave of the Kel Awakar who had become the protégé of the confederation's Amenokal. Ihemod would go on to seize power within the Kel Awakar, coercing the clans across the polity to join his cause and waging a brief war of unification across the Ninva desert to bring the other Tenerian tribes under his control. The great famine of the Teralwaq was the main driver of the unification, as Amenokal Ihemod believed the Tenerian people would not survive unless they could invade more fertile lands. This set off the Ihemodian wars, which would see the united Tenerian confederation called Kel Kaharna wage a war of subjugation against many of the peoples of Scipia. Ihemod reorganized the Tenerians into into decimal units of tens, hundreds and thousands of fighting men with their families becoming camp followers on the military campaigns of the Kel Kaharna. Noblemen, vassals, artisans and Ikelan alike were pressed into military service, given weapons and for the first time gained status through merit in service rather than through blood or clan loyalties.

Tenerians in the Mutul

The Divine Kingdom is home to the largest Kel Tenere community outside of Scipia. They live mostly in the cities of K'alak Muul and Puyum, with smaller communities scattered across the east coast of the Mutul. Tenerians have reached the Divine Kingdom since Charnea began syncretizing and converting to the White Path in the modern era, but emigration really took off only in the late 20th century and early 21th. Sharing a religion with their host country has allowed the Tenerians (called తెనెహె, Tenej, in Mutli) to rapidly gain subject status and integrate into the Mutulese society compared to other migrant community.

Part of the Tenerian immigration is linked to service in the Divine Army of the Ninety-Nine Nations, where they represent an increasingly large proportion of the recruits. as veterans often decide to settle permanently in the Mutul than return in their home country. While only a minority, these Tenej often represent leading figures in their communities, serving as various local administrators and representatives of the Mutuleses institutions, from the administration to law enforcement, around which a rather clanic network of clients can be built.

While the Tenej do not represent the entirety of the people of Tenerian-descent in the Mutul, some second or third-generations Tenej having fully integrated themselves into the Mutli culture and no-longer self-identify as Kel Tenere while parts of the immigration has yet to even acquire the subject-status, they are its most representative sub-culture in Oxidentale. While women slowly re-take their traditional role within the society, notably by serving in the Clergy or as political representatives, Tenej communities are still characterized by the control exercised by veteran soldiers as previously stated, shifting ever-so-slightly the traditional gender roles. Tenej' practices of the White Path are also more Orthodox than those in Scipia, and play an even stronger role in daily life. Their martial culture however, as been curbstomped by the Mutul' strict anti-gun laws. To compensate, martial arts, such as Mik'abe or Muk'yah K'ik, have become especially popular, alongside the religious institutions tied to their practice.

Culture

Language

The only surviving Tenerian language in the modern day is Tamashek, a language originating with the historical Kel Awakar confederation in central Charnea. In the distant past, most Tenerian confederations possessed their own dialect or distinct variation of the root Amaziɣ language. However, through the homogenization and standardization which occurred under the Charnean Empire, the diversity of the local languages was lost and only the Awakari Tamashek variation remained as the standard version across the Empire. Because of Tamashek's status as a lingua franca for many of the diverse ethnic groups residing in Charnea, many loanwords from the native languages of these non-Tenerian peoples have been adopted into common use in Tamashek, such as the Gharbaic word "sooq" meaning marketplace or the Zarma word "kaaruko" meaning horseman. The Academy of Tamashek Culture (Tamashek: Asinag n Tussna Tamashek, ⴰⵙⵉⵏⴰⴳ ⵏ ⵜⵓⵙⵙⵏⴰ ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵛⴻⴽ) headquartered in Agnannet serves as the linguistic authority over Tamashek, and collaborates with language organizations in Talahara over matters of Amaziɣ language and education.