Ómestaderoi

The Ómestaderoi (Ænglish: Homesteader) are any of the people in Urcean history who migrated either to the southeast or north to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had been acquired during the 16th and 17th centuries, such as Gassavelia, although the territory was inhabited by or utilized by other groups.

The Ómestaderoi concept and ethos greatly predate the migration to parts of Urcea, as many places now considered to be in "the Valley" were also settled by Ómestaderoi from the Archduchy of Urceopolis following technological advances allowing for land reclamation, such as in Southmarch and the broader Urcean frontier, with which the Ómestaderoi are often connected. Often, a connection was made between the Ómestaderoi and the migrations of the Adonerii Latinic settlers in from the coast during the Latin Heroic Age prior to the formation of Great Levantia.

Background
Urcea dramatically expanded during the 16th century by the acquisitions of Gassavelia and Ænglasmarch from defeated foes prior to or during the Great Confessional War. The Dragonnades lead to the mass dissolution of Protestant estates in this country, leaving large portions of the country in the hands of the Crown. Concurrently, Urceopolis and the Urce River valley were reaching overcrowding as many refugees from the war years had permanently settled within the city. Not only did the Kingdom's leadership, especially King Leo II, see that the latter problem could perhaps be solved by the former, but that the lack of agricultural productivity in the newly conquered lands - as well as a lack of loyalty to Urcea - could be resolved by appropriating the land to smallholders rather than giving the large estates to Optimates. In 1590, King Leo decreed that the Crown would divide the "Crown Estates" into 40 acre parcels. This decree originally only covered Gassavelia and small portions of Ænglasmarch for the time being, but it would come to include newly conquered or reclaimed portions of Dericania, Southmarch, and Carolina. The Leonine Land Decree, as it would become known, would remain in effect until 1892, when it was formally repealed by the Administrative Reorganization Act of 1892 implemented by Gréagóir FitzRex that year. Despite this, a final wave of Ómestaderoi settlement would occur a decade later.

Gassavelia and Ænglasmarch
The Dragonnades created large tracts of unowned land within Gassavelia and Ænglasmarch towards the end of the 16th century. The Leonine Land Decree divided much of this land into 40 acre parcels to be divided among any family in the Archduchy of Urceopolis of privilegiata or freeman rank who was a baptized Catholic without considerable land holdings. This first wave of Ómestaderoi had immediate impact, transforming most of the rural portions of both Gassavelia and Ænglasmarch to be plurality Urcean by 1700. In Gassavelia, the role and legacy of this first wave was decidedly negative, with what little agricultural land existing in Gassavelia largely going to the new arrivals, deepening the economic decline and deprivation that arose in Gassavelia after the Great Confessional War. The drew many Ómestaderoi to the cities, where many adopted the traditions of Gassavelian people and Ænglish people while also playing a key role in integrating those peoples into the overall Urcean people. 20th century retrospectives have called this first wave of Ómestaderoi a "failure", though recent scholarship has indicated ultimately mixed results, with a failure to establish a permanent Urcean rural population, but the role of these people in integrating the "conquered" societies cannot be understated.

Carolina
The Grand Duchy of Carolina lost a great deal of its landowning class during the Great Confessional War and Dragonnades, and its ruling house - Mar Morgan - was put into place by Emperor Leo III of the Holy Levantine Empire, binding it and Urcea in close alliance. A century of pestilence, plague, and famine after the war left the country depopulated, and in 1711 the Grand Duke formally asked Emperor Riordan I to send Ómestaderoi into the country to help reverse its fortunes. A generation later, however, the Grand Duchy stood to be inherited by House de Weluta, an inheritance which was denied by the Emperor of the Levantines, sparking the War of the Caroline Succession. As soon as the Royal Army entered the country, large numbers of local Ómestaderoi joined alongside them, playing an important role for the quick envelopment of the country. While the territory would enter and exit the Urcean sphere of influence over the course of the Caroline Wars, Urcean people would remain within the Grand Duchy throughout the period and would remain a source of loyalty and manpower for Urcea.

Transionia
The ten westernmost polities of the Kingdom of Dericania were annexed into Urcea in 1848 following the Third Caroline War. These territories, collectively known as Transionia, experienced considerable population decline as militia-waged atrocities and other factors lead to a large scale exodus of Derian people from the territory by the 1850. The Rectory for the Eastern Valley, the territorial government established following the war, formally petitioned the Concilium Daoni to expand the Leonine Land Decree of 1590 to include the new territory. The Daoni passed the law in 1852, leading to a large influx of settlers into Eastvale. The Ómestaderoi soon owned 85% of all private lands within the Rectory and the program was halted in 1880. This generation of settlers lead to Urcean people becoming the majority population of the province.

Reclaimed lands
The possibility of reclaiming lands for profitable use lead to a boom industry of innovative - and often fraudulent - methods to make both marsh and arid lands habitable, leading to rampant land speculation. The pressures of the boom and several high profile frauds lead the Concilium Daoni to officially pass a new amendment to the Leonine Land Decree in 1831, appropriating the vast majority of land in the frontier areas for Ómestaderoi use while compensating the owners.

Widowland
Following the Red Interregnum, there were large parcels of lands that large estate owners held title to but were dispossessed by the Urcean Republic in its effort to bring about radical economic and social reform or were otherwise dispossessed as a result of the conflict. With the return of King Patrick III and the end of the war, these lands lay fallow and still unoccupied. Rather than returning the lands to the estate owners, the King decided to compensate estate owners financially and took direct possession of the lands via the Constitutional Settlement Act of 1902. After having possessed these lands, the King authorized the final large scale Ómestaderoi settlement program on these lands for the widows and children of those who had died during the war on either side. A final wave of Ómestaderoi women and children left the cities - especially Urceopolis - to take up residence on their new properties throughout the mid-1900s. Colloquially, these Ómestaderoi-settled parcels became known as "Widowlands", and the children who grew up on them and their descendants have retained their "Widowlander" heritage. Every province in Urcea has chapters of the Widowlander Society, a fraternal organization dedicated to maintaining the traditions and heritage of Widowlander groups.

Legacy
The Ómestaderoi imparted onto Urcean culture many frontier and pioneer traditions and also created a more uniform cultural tradition throughout the country as the heritage and mores of the Valley and Urceopolitans were gradually adopted, with regional variation, by adjacent local populations. The Ómestaderoi remain romantic figures in Urcea and are thought by scholars to be one of the embodiments of the Urcean national spirit.

In addition to general impacts on Urcean society - both intangibly and in terms of socio-political geography - the Ómestaderoi also had a major impact on the cuisine of Urcea. Throughout the entire era of pioneer settlement, frontier necessity lead to the creation of new, ad hoc food preparation methods as well as specific dishes. Urcea's well-developed culture is thought by most scholars to be the result of prefabricated restaurants imported into Widowland areas for quick eats and soon became a staple nationwide.