Gruri
The Gruri were an ancient people who dwelled in south-west Eracura during the Bronze Age. They resided mainly along the coast of what the ancient Syarans knew as Boreas, the portion of Eracura directly to the north of Syara and Ruvelka.
The Gruri were not a single people, but a collection of tribes that shared a common language and religious beliefs. Evidence of their system of government is scarce, but during times of war or crisis they were evidently led by a single leader. Their origin is not clear, but were most likely the original inhabitants of the region. Although a connection with the Zeliat of Chryse has long been suspected, scant archeological evidence exists to confirm this. Most evidence of Gruri comes from outside sources, mostly Syaran, which contain limited details. Many sources from the Kydonian League describe the Gruri as pirates and raiders; how much of this is true versus stereotypes and myth is uncertain.
Conflicts between the Gruri and the Aleitians were common, with seasonal raiding and pillaging increasing during times of hardship. Gruri marauders were recorded as raiding the Syaran and Ruvelkan coast for wealth and slaves, leading to Aleitian reprisals and counter-raids, sometimes involving thousands of warriors. According to Aleitian oral sagas, the Gruri often operated as mecenaries from the Zeliat, fighting their battles for them in exchange for trade and spoils of war. While the Gruri and Zeliat were known to be in close proximity to one another, the exact details of their relationship are lost to history.
It seems likely the Gruri were in some part financially or economically dependent on the Zeliat, as their civilization appears to have entered into decline after the Aleitian invasion of Chryse in the late 2nd Millennia BCE. An increasing shortage of artifacts and a seeming decline in population correspond to the general Bronze Age collapse that affected many civilizations in Siduri. The ultimate fate of the Gruri is unknown; they fade from history during the 1st Millennia BCE with little indication of their overall fate. Their decline helped pave the way for Syaran settling of Boreas beginning in the 5th Century BCE, a process that continued for several centuries. Syaran colonization caused a general recession of what remained of the Gruri, after which what remained of their culture was absorbed into the Nordic Bosrei by the 1st Century CE.
The identity of the Gruri remains uncertain. They are generally considered to have been linguistically related to the Zeliat, but this has failed to reveal any insight into their origin, language, or society. As they are not considered a part of the Erani-Eracurans, modern research largely focuses on establishing relations between the Gruri and other non-EE peoples throughout Tyran.