Borfusans
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 2 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Farokand 1,564,682• Borfusa 1,226,307 | |
| Argolan | 86,916 |
| Malizia | 45,000 |
| Kuza | 16,000 |
| Malgania | 6,469 |
| Languages | |
| Native: Borfusan Also: Farokandi, Kandu | |
| Religion | |
| Akvo Mikarya, Köbulam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Melidari, Kambyks, Shhlians | |
The Borfusans or Borfusisans (Borfusan: or'fuzisanyk; Farokandi: Borfusanzis) are a Eastern Dulmaran ethnic group indigenous to most of the Farokandi Archipelago, but in modern times primarily concentrated on the island of Borfusa in Farokand. They are characterised by the Borfusan language, a language directly descended from the Paleo-Kulanthirian languages, one of the last of its kind. They were mostly replaced in Farokand by the Malthasvars during the Malthasvarian migration, with very few Borfusans currently residing in the main islands of the archipelago.
The Borfusans are organised into several tribes, with which most Borfusans identify with rather than the united Borfusan identity. Four main tribes exist today: the Polart, the Selstaryk, the Yrtrand, and the Ili Mandornam. These four tribes are all located on the island of Borfusa, which is also a federal republic of Farokand, in which they make up around 80% of the population. Various smaller tribes inhabit the island as well as a few scattered areas of Borfusan inhabitation outside of it, mainly Olerteva Valley in Kilaristan, Xermak in Cerecan, and Borfusanzistan in Kandi. These pockets of settlement are remnants of the much larger historical expanse of Borfusan settlement in Farokand.
Ethnonym
The term "Borfusan" comes from the Borfus Peninsula in Argolan, long believed to be the original homeland of the Borfusans before their migration to Dulmara. The term was first recorded in Enerisalani documents in 1328 as Borfuzans. The documents detailed an Enerisalani expulsion of tribes to the north; they believed the tribes had originated from Borfusia and designated them the name "Borfusan". Most other documents referring to the Borfusans until then named the tribe or called them harkonkira (barbarians). Records from the next few decades suggest that this overall term was spread to the other Dulmaran kingdoms, as the Borfusans grew smaller and smaller in number.
A Borfusan endonym for the group likely did not exist until the late 18th century, when Borfusan nationalism emerged as an ideology. However, some linguistic studies determined that the Borfusan word ayur'kosyk was widely used in the island of Borfusa as early as the 1500s to describe residents of the island. It literally means "island dweller" or more specifically "a person who resides on (the) island". It is debated as to whether this should be considered an ethnonym as it was also used for Kandu settlers at Lusan Méröl.
In 1798, the first record of or'fuzisanyk, the endonym of the Borfusans, was recorded. It was used by the local Polart oykron (council) to describe people of all Borfusan tribes in a report. The term was popularised over the next decades with the rise of Borfusan nationalism and the movement for Borfusan unity. The Free Borfusan Council used the word for its motto: "or'fuzisanyk avg inmiret fuz'ifar" ("Borfusans for a United Borfusa"). In modern times, or'fuzisanyk is a widespread endonym used by Borfusans across tribes. It derives from the original Enerisalani term Borfuzans combined with san, a derivation of sani, meaning "one" or "together", and the suffix -yk, meaning "people" or "ethnicity". So, altogether, or'fuzisanyk means something along the lines of "one Borfusan people". The modern Farokandi term, Borfusanzis, is a combination of the Farokandi name of Borfusia (Borfusanz) and the plural ending -is.
History
Homeland
The ancient ancestors of the Borfusans, the Paleo-Kulanthirian hunter-gatherers, were once the most widespread group in Kulanthir before the arrival of the Visto-Kulanthirian pastoralists.