Society and Ethnicity in Snefaldia

The society and ethnicities of Snefaldia are a subject that is very often confusing and overlapping. There is no "Snefaldian society" as it were, merely overlapping cultural practices and related cultural groups. the best words to describe the situation are Community Dynamics.

The idea of a single, unified society is one that is related in large part of the dominating religious influence of Aatem Nal, and the shifting ethnic allegiances withint its power structure. For example, though Aatem Nal is a nationwide faith, the practices and Librarians in Neer Dal are different from the practices in Sring Issa- albeit not much different.

"Society"

Snefaldian society is a mixed one, with several distinct ethnic groups competing over land and resources. Largely divided along regional lines, the Dayan, Sringal, Bae, Neeri, and Allashi ethnic groups comprise Snefaldia societies, and make up the nation's national character.

Snefaldia has long been isolated from other nations, despite having a perfect seaport situated in the Memdar delta, but has never been a great seafaring or trading nation. Most foreign influence arrived through the mountain passes, and each region recieved a great deal of cultural influence from the peoples that made the trek over their respective mountain ranges. Only in recent years have foreign ideas and cultures began to enter Snefaldia, mostly along religious and commercial lines. The Snefaldian Catholic Church was the first non-native faith to establish a church in the country, and like much of the foreign thinking that enters the country, has been given its own distinctly native spin.

Modern life revolves around community involvement, religious faith, industriousness, and the pursuity of aesthetics. Each of these aspects is reflected differently in the various regions.

Ethnicity

Unlike other nations, Snefaldia claims no single genetic group as "Snefaldian." The modern regions of Neer Dal, Sring Issa, Dayan, Bae, and Allasha are all genetically distinct and culturally significant, though there is considerable loaning and overlap.

Each ethnic group (Sringi, Dayan, Allashan, Neeri, Bajeon) have their own ideas about the origin of their peoples, are these rarely jive with each other. According to fossil records and reconstructed timelines, it is likely that the modern peoples are descended from ancient migrants who traversed the mountain ranges and established the first cultures, sometime in the early neolithic period. The first recorded civilizations are the City-States of ancient Allasha, and the people from these cities gave some of their genetic stock to the modern Allashans.

The fluctuation of power has largely gone entirely on regional boundaries. Historical warlords and kingdoms rose and established nations, and borders fluctuated very little. In fact, the the Sring Issan border in 700CE is just three miles from the modern border. Ethnic groups rarely intermarried, and remained largely antagonistic and evenly matched in power.

The rise of Aatem Nal changed that. Originally a largely Sringi movement, the early Arsathaes established control over the Sring Issan temporal lords and built themselves a power religious base by establishing archives in the other regions and recruiting locals (mostly orphans and unwanted people) to become cenobites and clerks. While the seat of temporal power was in Serasarda and squarely in Sring Issa, religious power grew in the other regions and bypassed ethnic boundaries.

It was in the middle period that the Arsathaes began to oppress minorities, almost exclusively in nothern Dayan. The Dayan persecution led to a rebellion which changed the makeup of the Aatem Nal leadership- no longer exclusively Sringi, Dayan leaders took control and engaged policies of tolerance and equity.