Urcean people

The Urcean people are a nation and ethnic group native to Urcea. The Urcean identity is of early medieval origin. Their ethnonym is derived from peoples living close to the Urce River in antiquity, referred to in Lebhan as Urciona.

The Urceans largely descend from two main historical population groups – the earlier Latinic people of Adonerum and the native Gaelic people who inhabited Levantia prior to the Latinic conquest. While the Great Levantia period largely saw a degree of segregation between the politically empowered Latinic population as compared to the geographically and politically marginalized Gaelic people, there was nonetheless a degree of admixture and integration. By the time of the fall of Great Levantia, integration of the two cultures began in earnest in the Urce River valley, and by the time of St. Julius I, the residents of Urceopolis and the Urce River valley were in the throes of hybridization, beginning a truly unique, Urcean culture.

Despite global classifications of Urceans consistently placing them as among Latinic peoples, and relations between Urcea and Caphiria are characterized by their cultural kinship, Urceans consider themselves neither Latinic or Gaelic but rather the descendants of both groups. While the concept of Urceanity derives from the cultural traditions of the country as well as the ethnic admixture of Gaels and Latins, immigrants have been known to be able to integrate into Urcean culture.

A vast majority of Urceans are divided into what are known as the Estates of Urcea, kinship-and-identity groups that bind families together. Deriving from the early voting tribes of Great Levantia and the socio-political client-patron relationships within them, the Estates have 25 distinct "Latinic" Estates and 25 distinct "Gaelic" Estates, with the latter being integrated during the latter Great Levantia period as part of the process of what sociologists call Urceanization.

Besides the "core" Urcean ethnicity, sometimes called "valley Urceans" in relation to their origin in the greater Urce River valley region known as the Valley, other ethnic groups are sometimes considered to be part of the wider Urcean identity. Most prominent among these are the Caenish people of Canaery and the southern tip of Levantia.

Religion and identity
Being a member of the Catholic Church - practicing or otherwise - is considered to be a vital part of Urcean identity, so much so that and other faith Urcean nationals have assumed a completely different ethnic identity over the past five centuries known as XXX people. XXX people assumed their identity not only from Urcean external views but from internal identity realization based on centuries of cultural isolation.