Casyrian

Once by far the most dominant culture on all of Telgren, the Casyrian population is a shadow of its former self. As the culture of the humans assimilated by the Empire of Oleandron, it was intimately tied to the history of that Empire, but had little true ethnic or cultural background. This is because the original Casyrian culture was under total domination by Oleandron's elves and was given little opportunity to develop its own traditions or values. Consequently, many citizens of Oleandron had little true attachment to the culture, nor did they feel a sense of community once the Empire fell. Consequently, the Casyrian culture swiftly dissolved following the loss of imperial control over regions as one by one they slipped from its grasp. Most Casyrians were swiftly integrated into other people groups, and though their legacy still remains, few of their traditions do.

The Casyrian culture was pioneered as a form of cultural genocide by the elves of Oleandron following the Assassination of Lord Oleandrellos, which was the culmination of a series of wars between humans and elves over southern Telgren. The tribes of Telgren were divided into friendly and hostile groups, with the old allies of Oleandron being designated friendly. Hostile tribes under Oleandrois control were forcefully broken up, dispersed across the Empire, and, if possible, taken as slaves. Such slaves were mixed with the population of slaves already in existence or which was brought from across the sea, with their language and heritage taken from them. This allowed Oleandron to destroy their cultures and, in many cases, languages, providing them with a much more subservient population. The friendly tribes were allowed to retain their culture and status, but because they became increasingly elvenized alongside their tendency to intermarry with the Eldritch population, they were assimilated naturally.

At the core of the Casyrian culture was reverence for elves. There were various levels of this, and some parts of the Empire were fervently pro-elvish while others were rebellious and constantly hotbeds of unrest. In particular, regions with a large elven middle class and less humans were more peaceful, while the cramped cities saw great inequality and therefore violence. The countryside was often a patchwork of these peaceful provinces and regions under near-constant rebellion. However, despite the inherent violence and mistreatment, over time the human population of Oleandron largely came to accept, if not support, elven dominance of the state.

Shortly after the elven leadership of Oleandron was removed by the human military, things began to break down again. The eruption of violence between Casyrian and Soulpixt pit the humans of East Oleandron, recently split from West Oleandron, against the elves, and led to genocide on both sides. The removal of eldritch on both sides in many cases removed the middlemen between the two, stoking hate further. Although maintaining the shallow Casyrian culture of duty, discipline, and work, the state of Casyrian's genocide of the elves divorced them from any real culture at all, leaving only scattered pockets of those horrified by the genocide as Casyrian in the east. In the west, the Alcediner city-states slowly diverged from the culture, and by 1300 had essentially diverged. The various other Casyrian communities would slowly assimilate with the various invading populations, leaving little genetic trace.

Therefore, the modern Casyrian population consists of two groups, the Isilites, and Casydrien. The Isilites represent the human population of Isileum, who are still in close contact with the elves of Fjalla and practice the same religion. This cultural exchange has led to the survival of a Casyrian culture in the region. The Casydriens are the descendants of the Casyrian citizens who did not participate in the genocide of elves and eldritch during the wars in the east, and who were not assimilated by the Fremedhians who settled the region afterwards. Their small communities are typically found in peninsular Fraspika, usually in the west, though some villages are found fairly close to Oleadron itself. The famed criminal Nerolím Divf is from one such village.