Daryz
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 20 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Menghe | 8,698,857 (2015 census) |
| Republic of Innominada | 580,000 |
| People's Republic of Innominada | 120,000 |
| Dzhungestan | 95,000 |
| Languages | |
| Dari language, Menghean language, German language | |
| Religion | |
| Mainly Rashida Shahidism or Cultural Shahidism
Historically Shamanism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Argents, Uzeris, Siyadagis | |
The Daryz (also spelled Dariz, Daryzdar) are a Turkic ethnic group in Septentrion. They primarily live in Menghe, Maverica, the Republic of Innominada, and the People's Republic of Innominada, with diaspora communities around the world. Their native language is Dari, though many in Menghe or Maverica speak Menghean or Maverican German, respectively.
History
The Daryz originated as a collection of nomadic tribes living on the south-central plains of Hemithea. The first recorded use of the word "Dari" dates to the 11th century CE, in records kept by the Uzeri kingdoms on the coast. Subsequent Menghean records from the Sunghwa Dynasty use the phonetic Gomun characters 達利 (Dalli, earlier pronunciation Dari), as the Sinmun alphabet had not yet been invented. The term's exact etymology is disputed, though the suffix "iz/yz" is generally believed to be derived from an old suffix indicating the plural form. In both Uzeri and Menghean records, the Daryz were reputed to be skilled horsemen and archers, but also relatively peaceful ones, in that they refrained from raiding villages with the same intensity as Dzhungestani nomads.
During the 15th century, the Daryz tribes pledged loyalty to Menghe's Ŭi Dynasty, which had conquered the southwestern Uzeri kingdoms in the First and Second Southern Expeditions. Menghean rulers used the Daryz as a buffer against more aggressive tribes to the northwest, and the two groups regularly exchanged tribute, though on a smaller scale than the wealthy Argent kingdoms.
After the Great Plague devastated Menghe in the early 16th century, the Daryz regained independence from Menghean influence, and formed an independent confederation of tribes. Surviving records indicate that it was during this period that the Daryz people and their neighbors converted to Shahidism. The Daryz kingdom lasted until the War of the Golden Doves (1882-1886), when Uzeristani forces armed with modern rifles and artillery subjugated its southern half, extending their area of control to the current location of the Menghean-Maverican border.
At first the Northern Daryz allied with their neighboring tribes to oppose the Uzeri advance, but after Uzeristan was annexed into the Federal Republic of Menghe in 1901, the Northern Daryz began to view the rising Maverican Confederation as a greater threat. The remaining Daryz formed a defensive alliance with Menghe in 1922, and began to modernize their armed forces, which until then had largely relied on muzzle-loading rifles. In 1937, Maverican forces invaded, hoping to take advantage of domestic instability in Menghe; this provided the spark that escalated the Great Conquest War. Northern and Southern Daryz both embraced the war effort, and initially supplied many troops to Menghe's Daryz Liberation Brigades, though tensions between the two groups flared as it became clear that the Menghean government planned to keep all of Daristan under its direct rule.
After the war ended in 1944, Menghe was restored to its 1935 borders, and Northern Daristan was annexed into Maverica. From that time onward, the Daryz have been a stateless people, split roughly evenly between the two powers and forming only a small minority in each. This has left them vulnerable to persecution, including a Menghean campaign in the late 1960s which forcibly settled the remaining nomadic tribes into sedentary communes.
Religion
Today, an estimated 94.6% of Daryz people are Rashida Shahids, though there are some Kharjii Shahids in the northeastern fringe of their distribution. Conversion to Shahidism is believed to have taken place between the 16th and 19th centuries, though new archaeological evidence suggests that isolated mosques were already present in some parts of Daristan as early as the 13th century. Daryz religious practices differ slightly from those of sedentary coastal peoples, and in rural areas they may incorporate more traditional elements with roots in Shamanism.
During the 18th century, missionaries from what is now Maverica made some efforts to convert individual Daryz tribes to Christianity, though they met with little success. During the late 19th century, most Christian Daryz converted back to Shahidism, especially in the southern area conquered by Uzeristan and later Menghe.
Language
The native language of the Daryz peoples is Dari, which differentiates them from the Turkic-based language groups to their south and east and suggests that linguistically they are closer to the other nomadic tribes of the Maverican interior.
Prior to the 20th century, Dari was written in an Arabic script, reflecting the influence of Uzeri traders and by extension the Ummayan heartland. The use of Shahidic holy texts from the 15th century onward further reinforced the use of Arabic scripts, though only members of the priestly class were trained in classical Arabic and literacy remained low.
In 1916, as part of an effort to modernize the country and expand literacy, the Federal Republic of Menghe required that Dari be taught and written in the Casaterran alphabet. Later, in 1930, the nationalist Menghean government rejected the Casaterran alphabet as overly Western and ordered that Dari instead be taught in a modified version of the Sinmun alphabet. Properly representing expressing Dari's flow and phonology, however, proved difficult, and in 1945 the Latin alphabet was reinstated as standard.
In Menghe
In Menghe, the Daryz people are one of the eight "registered ethnic groups" which the government recognizes with special status, such as bilingual services in major minority areas and sponsorship by the Ministry of Culture.
The 2015 census recorded 8,698,857 "persons of Daryz descent" in Menghe. 4,966,721 of these were recorded as residing in the Daristan Semi-Autonomous Province (다리스탄 준자치도, Darisŭtan Jun-jachido), with 2,574,610 in Argentstan Semi-Autonomous Province to the southwest. Only 376,938 were recorded as residing outside the four Semi-Autonomous Provinces of the southwest, and the vast majority of these live in Hwangjŏn Province immediately to the east. Small Daryz populations exist in Donggyŏng, North Donghae, and South Donghae provinces, but state policy in these areas has prevented the emergence of cohesive migrant communities.
Daryz living in the Daristan Semi-Autonomous Province and certain prefectures of Argentstan enjoy some independence from Menghean central rule, especially on issues relating to culture, and the Ministry of Culture has a department devoted to protecting Daryz customs and sponsoring Daryz-related events. Such autonomy, however, remains limited; while street signs and advertisements are required by law to include Dari subtitles, all public schools teach in Standard Menghean, and there are some reports that cultural assimilation toward modern Meng customs is on the rise. Daristan is also one of the least-developed provinces of Menghe, with an economy that remains highly dependent on agriculture, especially the production of sugarcane.
The [[Ministry of Internal Security (Menghe)|Ministry of Internal Security}} and Internal Intelligence Agency have both worked to suppress any discussion of Daryz independence, and are known to wiretap calls and open letters exchanged across the border with Daryz minorities in Maverica. Daryz activists have expressed concern over the province's high concentration of military bases, which place strain on the local economy and sometimes result in confrontations between soldiers and locals, but the Menghean Army has thus far dragged its feet in dealing with such complaints.