Enctör

A proud and fierce ethnic and cultural group, the Enctör have long been viewed by the peoples of southern Telgren as a wild and untamed people, a threat to civilization, and totally uncivilized. However, in the last 300 years, the Enctör have become more integrated into civil society, disproving the claim that they are savages. The Enctör probably descend from a conglomerate of tribes, with at least the elites being Talvinen. However, they are also closely related to the Qabalic Orentesh, who may make up a sizable portion of their ethnic background. Enctörs have dark brown to black hair and tend to have olive-skinned complexions. Their eyes are usually brown, with a reasonable minority of green and hazel eyes, though very few blue or grey eyes.

According to Enctör oral tradition which has since been recorded in writing, there were once 9 major Enctör tribes and 16 more minor tribes, living alongside one another in the highlands which overlook the Plaires Centralis. However, their people were pushed from the area by the Orentesh and forced onto the Plaires Centralis. During this hectic time, one of the major tribes and 4 of the minor tribes were either destroyed or assimilated into the remaining tribes, and the Enctör either assimilated or destroyed the native inhabitants of the Plaires. Following the collapse of the Khanate of Clesentia and devastating interracial violence, the Plaires Centralis l'Ouesse was an attractive target for the tribes. Eager to claim better pastures in the west, 5 of the major tribes and 7 of the minor tribes banded together and struck off across the Plaires Centralis for new land. Nobody really knows what happened to the remaining tribes, but most likely they were eventually integrated by the Orentesh or scattered by the centaurs.

Upon arriving to the borderlands of the plains, the Enctör found themselves on the borders of the powerful Kingdom of Fraspika. However, the tribes were not afraid, and banded together to invade this nation. Rushing into the unprepared Fraspika in 1283, the Enctör were able to despoil much of northern Fraspika and even threaten Couélion itself. However, by 1285, they has been fended off by a massive influx of levies, which managed to push the Enctör back into the plains, causing the disintegration of the confederation. Although sporadic raids by the Enctör continued for years, they failed to ever present a threat to Fraspika again. This defeat left the Enctör weak and disorganized, and they failed to make any significant progress towards organization over the next 500 years. This made them easy pickings for the rising Second Centaur Khanate, which overtook the Enctör by 1775. Despoiling their lands, many Enctör would flee into Fremedhia or through the mountain passes into Blazennia, where they still dwell today. With the destruction of the Second Centaur Khanate in 1791, the Enctör would be split into two distinct groups: Blazennian Enctör and Plaires Enctör. The Blazennian Enctör, consisting of the Mäzgyr and tribe in their sphere would come under the sway of Blazennian culture and become tightly incorporated into the Blazennian Empire, eventually rising to hold the Imperial Throne in the 1990s. Those who fled into Fremedhia, however, were expelled back to the plains and formed into the buffer state of Nashiade, dominated by the Nashi tribe.

The fate of the 12 tribes which existed upon arrival to Fremedhia's borders, known as the Nagöt Tés Hékis Nyíy Ars in the Enctör root language is as follows:

Major

• Mäzgyra: compose the bulk of the Enctör population of Mäzgyrazyrfold
• Nashi: compose the core of the Kingdom of Nashiade
• Ozaun: destroyed in 1270 SC, assimilated into multiple other tribes
• Döumon: destroyed in 1775 SC, minor presence in northern Nashiade
• Arslukun: destroyed in 1775 SC, scattered remnants throughout Nashiade and Mäzgyrazrfold

Minor

• Siylz: assimilated mostly into Mäzgyra, minor presence
• Ugina: assimilated mostly into Arslukun, likely extinct
• Baxsć: assimilated mostly into Nashi, likely extinct (some claim the Baxsć are closely related to the Baxstir)
• Trasyn: assimilated mostly into Mäzgyra, likely extinct
• Saćxs: minor presence in Mäzgyra lands
• Peshar: major presence in Nashi lands
• Qöthy: assimilated mostly into Döumon, likely around 30-40% of remaining Döumon

One can observe some minor differences in the remaining Enctör, and their culture can be split into Mäzgyr, Nashi, Peshar, Saćxs, Siylz, and Döumon. Of these six different groups, Siylz culture is scattered and essentially irrelevant, while the Döumon, Saćxs, and Peshar cultures are concentrated into areas dominated by the Mäzgyr and Nashi tribes. Hence, Mäzgyr and Nashi culture are the dominant cultures.

The Mäzgyr make up the majority of the Enctör population, outnumbering the non-Mäzgyr by almost 400,000 people. This make them the dominant culture, and they are also the wealthiest due to their position in the Blazennian Empire. The Mäzgyr are concentrated in Mäzgyrazrfold, centered on the confluence of the Nordal and Verwaal rivers. The Mäzgyr have been the main force behind the rise of Mäzgyrazrfold, forming the basis of the farming peasantry, while the Saćxs historically made up the majority of levies and the hunters and woodsmen often being of Blazennian descent. This allowed them to rise to their current population, as the lands they began cultivating had been sparely farmed beforehand. With the clearing of the forests, the Mäzgyr brought new land under cultivation, greatly increasing the prosperity of the state, while also slowly beginning to assimilate the other peoples in the area- both remnants of other Enctör tribes which had also fled to Blazennia as well as those already there. Although the adoption of the Blazennian script and Blazeologic religion by the Mäzgyr led to some of the Blazennians assimilating over time, the dominance of Blazennians in urban areas and in parts of the country far from the Mäzgyr center of power meant such assimilations were limited to those done via marriage. Far more assimilation would affect the Erleting population of the region, which the Blazennian state didn't care about and who were left in poverty. Since identifying as Enctör and marrying into Enctör families granted the Erleting higher status, many have become assimilated into Mäzgyr society, further complicating their demographics.

The Saćxs are a minor tribe of Enctör whose population is mostly concentrated in the northeastern parts of Mäzgyrazrfold. The Saćxs were already under the influence of the Mäzgyra before the collapse of Enctör society on the Plaires Centralis, and consequently followed the Mäzgyra tribe into exile. Used as a vanguard by the fleeting Mäzgyra forces, many Saćxs distinguished themselves in battle and Saćxs the managed to fight off several centaur threats without assistance from the main Mäzgyra army. This gave them a reputation as excellent soldiers, though it cost them a larger proportion of men than the Mäzgyra. With the loss of a large proportion of their men, many of the Saćxs families were assimilated by Mäzgyr; for example orphaned children were educated as Mäzgyr. The Saćxs were however recognized by the Mäzgyr for their military service and were exempted from taxation upon the formation of Enctörlönd (early Mäzgyrazrfold). They were specifically granted the lands between the Impir Mountains and the Lordship of Aulwein as an autonomous portion of Mäzgyrazrfold as long as they provided a vanguard against threats from the north. However, after the Blazennian-Centaur War and the establishment of Dvönmark this position became less useful, though Saćxs warriors continued to serve the crown. Due to the development of a unique Saćxs identity as warriors the concentration of their settlements in the of Saćxsfold autonomous region, they managed to retain their culture, often defined as quite conservative and distrustful of Mäzgyr encroachment. The Saćxs have also preserved the traditional runic alphabet of the Enctör, unlike the Mäzgyr and Siylz. Though retaining their traditional alphabet, the vast majority of Saćxs have converted to Blazeology- this number rises to 90% if considering Blazeologic heresies such as the Blazelukhó.

The other surviving subgroup of Enctör in Blazennia is that of the Siylz. Descending from the Siylz tribe, which was under Mäzgyr dominance even before the exodus, the Siylz were devastated by the centaur invasions and perhaps as few as 100,000 of their people survived, with the numbers reducing further due to the extreme shortage of men. Numbering just under 70,000 individuals in modern times, the surviving pockets of Siylz culture can be found scattered across northwestern Mäzgyrazrfold, as these regions saw the least attention from the crown and thus preserved unique cultures a bit longer. In other areas the Siylz were almost entirely assimilated over the past 200 years. In Saćxsfold, the Siylz were largely assimilated by the Saćxs, while in Mäzgyrazrfold proper they were assimilated by the Mäzgyr.

[TODO: Nashi, Peshar, and Döumon].

There are 2,130,000 Mäzgyr, 887,000 Nashi, 422,000 Saćxs, 233,000 Peshar, 70,000 Döumon, and 68,000 Siylz people total, meaning the Enctör population as whole is rather small, as expected of a people crushed by the centaurs a mere 200 years ago. However, the Enctör population was never very large to begin with, and with their lands in Blazennia being more fertile than the plains, their population is actually higher, if less diverse, than before the Second Centaur Khanate.