Taństan Coscivians

The Taństans are a Coscivian ethnic group, one of the largest single ethnic groups in the Kiravian Federacy.

History
[History]

Language
[Classification] [General characteristics, morphological typology] [Notable features]

Taństan Coscivian is one of the most widely-spoken Coscivian vernacular language, with a long literary tradition and a well-developed network of Taństan-medium educational institutions, newspapers, and radio stations. It is an official language of Fariva, Harma, and the Austral and Itapau Islands. However, there are far fewer monolingual speakers of Taństan Coscivian than of the other vernacular languages of commensurate size, with most Taństans being fluent in Kiravic. Most monolingual Taństan-speakers in Great Kirav hail from overseas colonies or Livensóla.

Religion
Ruricanism is the traditional faith of the Taństan people, but since the XYZth century the ethnic group has become increasingly diverse in terms of religion. Among the modern Taństans there are Archepiscopals, Mercantile Protestants, members of numerous small Taństan-initiated heterodox Christian sects, Iduans, Komarists, Sarostivists, Unitarians, Universalists, and members of urban. Ethnic Taństans who adhere to Catholicism are commonly referred to as Marþonans, though this term more properly refers to a specific subgroup of Latin-Rite Catholics Taństans, most of whom live in close-knit communities in rural Harma and in Avenirskara. Some Taństans have adopted Reformed Orthodoxy (Theophilianism). Whatever their creed, however, most Taństans (especially Taństan women) maintain some sort of connexion to Ruricanism, whether in substantive syncretism with their professed religion or more through participation in Rurican rites and traditions in a non-defining or merely cultural way.

Culture and Customs
The Taństans have a stratified, hierarchical culture that places great importance on notions of social rank, propriety, and protocol.

Most Taństan marriages are endogamous, but patterns of exogamy vary according to social rank and class. Rural Taństans are the most strictly endogamous segment of the ethnic group, followed by Republican-class Taństans in metropolitan and micropolitan areas who trace their ancestry to the old yeomanry and lesser nobility of Taństedan. Taństans involved in the maritime industry, seaborne commerce, and the navy have traditionally been more open to exogamy, while many aristocratic Taństan families have intermarried with families of comparably high status from other Coscivian groups. With regard to intra-ethnic marriages, rank, class, and ancestry play a major role in determining whether a pairing is acceptable. Marriages between Taństans from very different levels of the social hierarchy are strongly discouraged, and families often have strict standards as to which bloodlines are worthy of marrying their sons and daughters. Several services, including both for-profit companies and nonprofit societies, collect information on Taństan marriage prospects in a particular region, as well as their family histories, and publish this information in annual "marriage almanacs" to help young Taństans seeking spouses. is traditionally accepted among the Taństans, and in fact preferred among some subgroups.

Although a minority of Taństans adhere to Sarostivism, Taństans, like the related Lúnstans but unlike most other seafaring Coscivian peoples, have traditionally not observed the Sarostivist-derived taboo against whaling. Adorning buildings with ivy.

Taństan tradition of higher education. Their own recension of High Coscivian. "Taństan Model" universities across Kiravia.

The Taństans have a strong that sets them apart from other Coscivian-Kiravians, who have generally come to prefer coffee since settling in Ixnay and have developed a coffee culture adapted from the Hekuvian. Taństan tea culture includes several, a literary canon of , and the inclusion of tea consumption into other aspects of life, such as business meetings and hospitality customs. Like other Coscivians, the Taństans regularly visit the graves of deceased relatives, and have the unique traditions of leaving cups of tea or burning tea leaves as a grave offering.

Interethnic Relations
The Taństans are closely related to several other Coscivian ethnic groups, including the Liscans of Livensola, Ebondans, and Nūrþans, some of whom share Taństan Coscivian as their mother tongue; and more distantly to the Erasans, Lúnstans, Kagurans, and Ferúlans, with whom they share many cultural similarities.

The people of the Svéaran Peninsula in Kiygrava State are ethnically Kir, but have a historical and ancestral relationship with the Taństans, evident in substantial Taństan influence in their Kiravic dialect and many other common cultural elements.

Due to the widespread geographic distribution of the Taństans, historical conflicts between Taństan and non-Taństan policies, and Taństans' socio-economic status as or  in many areas they inhabit, there is a long and continuing history of animosity between Taństans and various other Coscivian peoples. Emnity is particularly strong between the Taństans and the Ĥeiran Coscivians and Valosian Coscivians.

In the multiethnic metropolitan areas of Fariva, such as Bérasar and Norvimur, members of the many non-Taństan groups that have immigrated to these areas over the centuries have adopted many aspects of Taństan-derived Farivan regional culture, but nonetheless maintain identities distinct from the dominant urban Taństan minority. Interethnic tension in these cities is strongly related to perceptions of social class and institutional power differentials.

Distribution
Taństans can be found throughout the Kiravian Federacy. Their traditional homeland is located in the Far Northeastern states of Fariva, Harma, Ostona, Serikorda, and. Areas of newer settlement where Taństans are similarly dominant include Erinava and the Aromatic Isles. Large populations can be found in the Kiygrava (divided between the long-established Green Taństans and more recent migrants from Andera, termed Blue Taństans), much of Upper Kirav, Venèra, northeastern Kastera, Devahoma, and Oceantropica.

Important cities outside of the officially Taństan-speaking states where Taństans comprise a large percentage of the population include:


 * Þanetsar, capital of Devahoma: 36% Taństan
 * Klívhoma, Kastera: 42% Taństan
 * Hilarśad, Kiygrava: 56% Taństan
 * Tavroa, Venèra: 31% Taństan