Giriþiudan

The Giriþiudans are Wesevölk (Vay-suh-fulk) who remained in their ancestral homeland as opposed to migrating like the other Wesevölk. Although they chose not to engage in the migrations of their Wesevölk brethren this does not mean they were weak. Rather, the Giriþiudans were strong enough to retain their homelands while fighting off Yuskic migrants as well as other Giriþiudan tribes. The Giriþiudans are split primarily into four different subgroups; the Stranþiudans, Gadhþiudans, and Argelþiudans, and Sunþirudans.

The Giriþiudans, like the other Wesevölk ethnicities, originated in Western Telgren, although exactly where is up for debate, as many of the Wesevölk peoples originally inhabited Fjalla and were pushed out of the region by the Empire of Oleandron. Although Giriþiudan forces had occasionally skirmished with Oleandron, the northwestern parts of that nation were easily defensible and rarely worth invading, making it far more profitable for the militarily powerful tribes to sell slaves captured from other tribes south. The collapse of Oleandron and migrations of other peoples led to conflicts across Giriþiuda by various invaders, but these were largely driven back by the superior tactics and equipment of the Giriþiudans. However this did have one notable effect in that the smaller tribes were largely subsumed by larger ones around this time. With no more population pressures, Giriþiuda was soon filled with an abundance of young warriors, eager for war and loot. Thus, many of these warriors set off for new lands, settling small communities and expanding the reach of the Giriþiudan people. Though the Giriþiudans had great success in these ambitious moves, the sovereignty of these states was often short-lived and before too long all Giriþiudan exodus kingdoms had receded, leaving the people behind.

These remaining communities of Giriþiudan have become the Argelþiudans and Sunþirudans, to the east and south, respectively. Argelþiudans can be found along the lower reaches of the Argelan river, within the bounds of the Kingdom of Spólństawo, where they have lived for centuries. Although the Argelan river actually originates in Giriþiuda proper, its lower reaches are held by the Rodłowi of Spólństawo, and only the Giriþiudans along this stretch of the river are considered Argelþiudans. The small communities of Argelþiudans may predominantly be found along the river itself, but there are some towns which are majority Giriþiudan that can be found in the parts of the Giriþiudan Mountains under Spólństawan control. Argelþiudans are moderately influenced by the Spólństawans, with many having mixed backgrounds. Traditionally, they have been split between the native Giriþiudan faith and that of their rulers, but the spread of Blazeology has led to large amount of conversions to this faith, in particular to the Blazelukhic heresy.

The Sunþirudans are similar to the Argelþiudans due to high levels of influence from Erleting, who are a Yuskic people just like the Rodłowi. However, the Sunþirudans also have a much larger legacy, both military and political, which gives them more of an identity. Being generally much further from Giriþiuda itself, they are quite distinct thanks to centuries living alongside a variety of different cultures and races. The Sunþirudans trace their ancestry back to the Kingdom of Sunþiruda, and despite most of them having mixed blood they consider themselves proud Giriþiudans. Sunþirudans have long-since been converted to Blazeology, as they were largely integrated into the Alcediner city states which arose after the fall of Sunþiruda.

As for the groups in Giriþiuda proper, the Stranþiudans and Gadhþiudans, the majority of their differences come from their way of life. Stranþiudans are a coastal grouping of Giriþiudans, who historically primarily focused on fishing and overseas trade over agriculture or hunting. Stranþiudans benefited greatly from the Golden Era of Frostreach, as they were a fellow Wesevölk and therefore shared similar customs with the Voðeren merchants and traders. However, after Frostreach began to fall, many of these Voðeren turned to raiding and looting coastlines, and the Stranþiudans went through hard times. There is a small legacy of Stranþiudans being taken as slaves, but these have rarely managed to form cohesive communities as the Voðeren typically preferred less adept fighters as their slaves. To complicate relations between the two groups further, several Voðeren states have recently managed to establish footholds on the coast of Giriþiuda, conquering most of the Stranþiudans. Aside from their lifestyle differences, the Stranþiudans also differ from the Gadhþiudans in that there are a significant minority of Rusirr followers among their people, remaining from contact with the Voðeren.

Gadhþiudans are, in many ways, prototypical Giriþiudans. Heavily warlike, tenacious, and politically splintered, they have long been the leaders of the Giriþiudan people, and were originally composed of the largest tribes. The Gadhþiudans were dominated by Stranþiudans merchant kingdoms during the Golden Era of Frostreach, but during the Golden Age of Raiding they returned to dominating the coastline. Although the Voðeren invaders have managed to settle several kingdoms, these have had much less of an impact on the Gadhþiudans, with only the Kingdom of Miþwa being seriously threatened.