Lemobrogian peoples

Lemobrogian peoples

Daènérèňəvé
Total population
~ 101,000,000 (2024, est.)
Regions with significant populations
Lemobrogia ~ 76,000,000 Tyran ~ 25,000,000
Languages
Lemobrogian language
Religion
Naxóteíðó
Related ethnic groups
Gylic peoples

The Lemobrogian peoples ((Lemobrogian: Daènérèňəvé, /daɛ̯neˈrɛɲəve/) are those peoples native to Lemobrogia; the descendants of Cro-Magnon early modern humans that reached Lemobrogia around 56,800 years ago and interbred with the region's indigenous Denisovan archaic humans, they are distantly related to the Gylic peoples. These peoples are tied by their practice of the Naxóteíðó religion (often syncretized with Hahtta or Zobethos), by their use of the Lemobrogian language (or by one of the largely mutually intelligible Central, Northern or Southern Lemobrogic dialects), by a shared non-violent and pacifist culture and ethos and, to a far lesser extent, by their peculiar physical appearance, the result of several thousand years of Cro-Magnon/Denisovan interbreeding and high-altitude adaptation. Around 76,000,000 people with this ethnic background live in Lemobrogia, where they constitute 75% of the population; another 25,000,000 people live abroad.

Classification

The Lemobrogian peoples are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, a subtropical highland area that largely coincides with the borders of the country of Lemobrogia, in the region of Tyran; they share distant cultural, linguistic and genetic ties with the Gylic peoples. While a hypothetical Sidurian language, ancestral to the languages of both peoples, has been tentatively reconstructed, the exact origin of the hypothetical Sidurian culture that could have spoken it is unknown; it has however been proven that anatomically modern humans first reached Lemobrogia from what is now Erania, during a time of warm climate, likely searching for an escape from the tropical heat and from tropical diseases, such as malaria. There, they interacted and interbred with Denisovan archaic humans, to such an extent that they have the highest known proportion of Denisovan ancestry of any population in Tyran; in fact, a haplotype of EPAS1 in the Lemobrogic peoples, which allows them to live at high elevations in a low-oxygen environment, likely came from these Denisovan ancestors.

25% of the population of Lemobrogia belongs to one of the so-called Paleo-Lemobrogian peoples, direct descendants of those Cro-Magnon early modern humans that settled in the area as early as 56,800 years ago, interacting and interbreeding with the indigenous Denisovan archaic humans; another 25% of the population belongs to one of the so-called Meso-Lemobrogian peoples, that can trace their ancestry back to foreign peoples that interacted and interbred with the Paleo-Lemobrogian peoples; yet another 25% of the population belongs to one of the so-called Neo-Lemobrogian peoples, that can trace their descent from one of 12 ethnic groups of foreign origin that sought refuge in Lemobrogia over the centuries, often under the patronage and protection of the Crown, interacting and interbreeding with the Paleo-Lemobrogian and Meso-Lemobrogian peoples in the centuries that followed. Moreover, the final 25% of the population consists of people born outside the country.

The Paleo-Lemobrogic genotype and phenotype, also present in certain Meso-Lemobrogic and, to a lesser extent, Neo-Lemobrogic peoples due to interbreeding, have long been the subject of study, being the result of several thousand years of Cro-Magnon/Denisovan interbreeding and high-altitude adaptation; while the Paleo-Lemobrogic peoples are characterized by a prevalence of the olive skin tone found in the related Gylic peoples, blue or green eyes or blonde and red hair are especially prevalent too, even in people with very dark skin. Moreover, they are characterized by a bigger chest size and a larger lung capacity than the Gylic peoples, an adaptation to Lemobrogia's high altitude. The Paleo-Lemobrogic peoples have also retained the low level of sexual dimorphism found in their Cro-Magnon ancestors but, unlike them, have little to no body hair, an adaptation to Lemobrogia's year-round balmy and warm climate. They also tend to be quite short: adult men are on average less than 150 cm tall.

Subgroups

There are 1728 Paleo-Lemobrogian peoples, 144 Meso-Lemobrogian peoples and 12 Neo-Lemobrogian peoples; these peoples are not ethnic groups, but clans or tribes held together by shared values, that can often trace their lineage back to one common ancestor (as with the greater part of the Paleo-Lemobrogian peoples), to one ethnic group of foreign origin (as with the greater part of the Neo-Lemobrogian peoples), or to both (as with the greater part of the Meso-Lemobrogian peoples). A few of these peoples are associated with a certain line of work they used to be especially prevalent in: bellicose or violent activities and trades in the case of the Ŋéžé people, itinerant or peripatetic crafts and trades in the case of the Xoúryé people, and so on. Ancient cities in Lemobrogia were not organized on the basis of hierarchy or social and economic power: in a city, each quarter was inhabited by a people with a specific specialization, that relied on the other peoples present in the city itself for other goods and services.

History

Lemobrogia was first settled by Cro-Magnon early modern humans around 56,800 years ago; there, they interacted and interbred with the indigenous Denisovan archaic humans. By around 5000 BCE, the polities of Lemobrogia had unified under a pacifist theocracy, that eventually stagnated socially and technologically; therefore, it was unable to resist being partitioned between those foreign dynasties based in Syara and Tennai, between the 3rd century BCE and the 5th century CE. The colonists sent by both polities influenced the cultural and genetic character of the inhabitants of the far north and the far south of the country, before largely going native. Later on, in the 17th century, a civil war between the reunified Lemobrogian state and the Ŋéžé-backed Xevdenite insurgency depopulated several areas of the country to such an extent, the Crown of the union invited several neighbouring ethnic groups inside Lemobrogia's borders to try and recoup the losses; these ethnic groups, that interbred and hybridized with the local population, now constitute a plurality in 4 of Lemobrogia's 13 provinces.

Geography

The Lemobrogian peoples are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, a subtropical highland area that largely coincides with the borders of the country of Lemobrogia, in the region of Tyran; the alpine far south of the country and the tropical far north of the country were sparsely populated until the period of Syaran and Tennaiite occupation: because of this, the cultural and genetic character of the inhabitants of the far north and the far south of the country is influenced by the cultural and genetic traits of the colonists sent by both polities. While a Ŋéžé diaspora established itself as a ruling élite in Gylias for three centuries, it has achieved plurality status only in certain, select corners of today's Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk Region. Today, 75% of ethnic Lemobrogians, around 76,000,000 people, live in Lemobrogia, where they they constitute 75% of the population; another 25,000,000 people - around 25% of ethnic Lemobrogians - live abroad, especially in Acrea, Gylias and Megelan.

Culture

Lemobrogian culture is characterized by a non-violent and pacifist ethos: children are never punished or forced against their will, but are taught to control and fear their own aggressive impulses; adults are controlled primarily by public opinion, and individuals that try to put themselves above others are humbled and shamed by the community, perceived as the only source of nurturance and safety in a country that, while rich in resources, was historically threatened by foreign invaders and is still threatened by natural hazards. While the Lemobrogian peoples have been described as having resolutely egalitarian social organization and practices, they have preserved an ancient tradition of sacral kingship, in which those associated with a certain lineage or those elected to the throne have, in exchange for their considerable influence, the civic and religious duty to atone and suffer for their people, being subject to ritualistic bodily, psychological or even sexual assault during crises at best, and being sacrificed at worst.

Lemobrogian culture also shares several key characteristics with other historically hunter-gatherer and horticultural societies, in that it is a matrilineal and matrilocal society; partners often keep living in their respective birth households even after having children of their own, that are typically raised in their mother's household. Therefore, uncles have a key role in the education and raising of their sisters' children, while the role of one's biological father is secondary; in fact, due to the widespread availability of fungi and plants with accidental abortifacient and contraceptive qualities in Lemobrogia, the practical link between sex and pregnancy was not very evident in the country until relatively recently, the historical belief in partible paternity (that is, the belief that pregnancy is the cumulative result of multiple acts of sexual intercourse, and that more than one man can be the biological father to a child) arising as a result.

Language

The majority of the population of Lemobrogia speaks one of the languages in the Lemobrogic dialect continuum; standard Lemobrogian, a conservative and literary register of the tongue first used by the courtly and priestly class, is the lingua franca of virtually the entire nation, as the second language of the totality of the country's population, regardless of ethnic background. A chiefly isolating language characterized by an object-subject-verb word order and a fairly plain and regular phonology and phonotactics, it was popularized by the ballads and epics of the country's itinerant entertainers, even as it retained characteristics typical of ancient courtly and priestly speech; it is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible not only for average and ordinary speakers of the Lemobrogic languages, but also for cultured and educated speakers of the Gylic languages, and especially of the Yaskan and Zineran languages, to which it is related.

Religion

Lemobrogia has a diverse religious history, having been the birthplace of several philosophical currents and religious faiths, and having been influenced by several other such currents and faiths; most of the country's inhabitants, however, adhere to the Naxóteíðó faith. A polydeistic and polytheistic religion according to which the gods, after having collectively created the universe, ceased to intervene in its evolution in order to let lesser beings - that are subject to an eternal cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth - exercise their free will, it is one of the oldest religions still practiced today in Tyran. Even though official statistics show Naxóteíðó to be Lemobrogia's largest religion, with 75% of its citizens engaging in Naxóteíðó rites and practices, only 25% of the country's population describes itself as exclusively or purely Naxóteíðó, as it is an established habit to syncretize it with other beliefs in general and with the Hahtta and Zobethos faiths in particular.

Literature

Ancient Lemobrogia was an unusually literate society for its day; in fact, the relatively high circulation of books and bulletins in the pre-industrial age was encouraged by the authorities, as a way to keep their country together in an era where travel was often dangerous and hard. However, as the written word was used to record practical concerns and religious precepts, the people preferred the spoken word of chroniclers and singers: the country's popular literature developed out of this tradition, as oral literature was first transcribed and then expanded on. The introduction of the Brahmi script via Tennai and of the Greek alphabet via Syara, and the invention of woodblock printing in the 800s, favoured the rise of literacy to an even greater degree; previously quite insular, Lemobrogia's literature was first exported to the rest of Tyran via Acrea, with this country's scholars being the first to notice a possible link between the Gylic languages and the Lemobrogic languages.

Arts

The arts of Lemobrogia have been influenced by the country's social order, that is founded on three basic forms of social liberty: the freedom to move away or relocate from one’s surroundings, the freedom to ignore or disobey commands issued by others, and the freedom to shape entirely new social realities - or shift back and forth between different ones. Because of this, buildings with a practical or religious function were often the only fixed feature of any city: individual houses and entire quarters could appear or disappear overnight; and, due to the itinerant nature of the populace, art for personal or private use was often conceived to be easily transportable, and as practical in its function as it was decorated and ornate, often featuring animal, geometric and vegetal motifs. This tradition, that contributed to the rise of the Art Nouveau movement in the early 1900s, has also influenced present-day Lemobrogia's organic architecture movement.

Institutions

75% of ethnic Lemobrogians live in the Unified Realm of Lemobrogia, a semi-constitutional, semi-elective and semi-parliamentary monarchy in Tyran's continent of Siduri; the state under which they live is characterized by a resolutely egalitarian social organization at the local level, and an ancient tradition of sacral kingship at the national level - indeed, kings and queens often encouraged their subjects' anti-authoritarian and libertarian tendencies in order to prevent the birth and rise of business concerns or hereditary nobility strong enough to challenge royal power. Since the 1970s, after the nationalization of several key businesses - under the guidance and supervision of the so-called "Red King", Varnaþ és Kəlnaþ - the country has been characterized by a decentralized planned economy in which private and state businesses are collectively owned and cooperatively run, and prices are deliberatively and periodically agreed upon by consumers and producers alike.