Aciriani people

The Acirian people, or Acirians, are an ethnic group primarily located in northwestern Sarpedon, identified through ethnicity, nationality or common culture and history.

Making up 97% of the Acirian population (89% without Montanaros), the Acirian people are by far the largest ethnic group in Aciria. The Acirian people, particularly the non-Montanaros, are primarily descended from people descend from the ancient Glaistic people the Latins, as well as the Istroyans, who settled on the coastal regions of Aciria in antiquity. The waves of people coming into Aciria brought along with them their culture and language, which along with the geography of Aciria helped create the distinct Acirian tribal identities. Despite attempts to assimilate the tribal identities together, most notably beginning in the late 18th century, many Acirians still identify with their respective tribal ancestry and find pride in it equal to their nationality, most notably the Montanaros, who to this day fight against their assimilation into the larger Acirian identity.

While Acirian is the only official and recognised language of Aciria and it's spoken by a majority of Acirians as their first language, many linguistic divisions exist in the language due to the regional differences, most notably with the Montanaro people, which many Montanaro argue is a distinct language from Acirian.

Pre-Glaistic era
Very little is known of the people that inhabited Aciria prior to the arrival of the Glaistic people. The area that makes up modern day Aciria has been inhabited since at least XXXXX BC, but the tumultuous periods of Acirian history alongside its climate has destroyed what might've remained of the pre-Glaistic peoples. Istroyan historian Nokipedes wrote that the Glaistic people called the people that inhabited the land before their arrival as "Movani".

Glaistic era
The ancestors Glaistic people are generally thought to have arrived in waves as opposed to a larger uniform force, suggested by the distinct pottery styles appearing between 2000 and 1500 BC. Most notable feature of the Glaistic people was the eventual development of the Glaistic mask, which was an important part of Glaistic religious and cultural practices. The Glaistic era is also characterized by the early silver boom, which resulted in silver being a part of everyday life in Glaistic society, from the poor to the elite.

Istroyan arrival
The plentiful amount of both raw silver and various silver products eventually lead to the development of trade between the Glaistic people and theIstroyans. The sailing distance from the Istroyan civilization in the northeast to the Glaistic lands in the northwest, which prompted the Istroyans to create trading outposts on coastal regions, typically islands, which eventually developed into colonies and their own independent polis'.

The cordial relations between the two peoples eventually declined, culminating in the Istroyan invasion of the mainland lead by Alketadas. The constant presence of Istroyans on the mainland caused the creation of a Glaisto-Istroyan Kingdom and culture, with notable presence on the coastal regions in particular.

Latin era
Infighting in the Glaisto-Istroyan world allowed the Adonerii to colonise the eastern portions of modern day Aciria quite early on. The Adonerii presence in the east allowed for the Latin culture and language to first be introduced to the Glaistic people, who made attempts at making the Adonerii allies against the Istroyan ruling class. The Glaistic invitation of the Adonerii to their lands made the eventual expansion of Caphiria into Aciria relatively peaceful, with modern day Aciria entirely made part of the imperium by 376 BC.

Acirian tribes
Since the early 19th century, Acirian tribes have been categorized under three umbrella terms; Aciriani, Marinai and Montanaro. To categorize the tribes, Acirian anthropologists looked at things such as geographic distribution, livelihoods and similarities in dialects. The terms used themselves are named after the most prolific of the tribes at the time, with the exclusion of Montanaro, which has been a historic term to describe the mountain dwelling peoples of the central highlands.

Aciriani
The most widespread and populous of the three tribes has been and is the Aciriani, which is the namesake for the country of Aciria and the Acirian language term for people of Acirian nationality. Aciriani are historically associated with large urban settlement along rivers and highly developed agricultural practices on the flatlands that surround the central highlands. While geographically divided by the mountains, their common identity was strengthened by the eventual arrival of the Latins from the east whose culture the Aciriani were most affected by.

Historically, the Aciriani have been the most wealthy of all the tribes and often self-sufficient from the land they were able to cultivate, which gave birth to the stereotype of Acirianis being xenophobic. The Aciriani dialect, which is what the Acirian language is based on, has the least foreign loanwords compared to the other Acirian dialects.

Marinai
The second most widespread of the tribes is the Marinai, (lit. Seamen). While the geographic distribution of Marinai often overlaps with the Aciriani, the strongest Marinai identity exists on the islands off the coast of Aciria, on islands such as Montverd, Azzia and Paradisola. The Marinai that inhabit the mainland typically were distinguished from the Aciriani not by dialect or culture necessarily, but from profession. The Marinai have been renowned shipbuilders, sailors and traders for all of Acirian history, which reputation carries on to this day – Marinai owned shipping businesses dominate the Acirian market despite Aciriani attempts to enter it. The unique distinction of the Marinai people allowed for people of other tribes to become Marinai instead of being born into it; Marinai tradition dictated that a non-Marinai sailor became Marinai the moment they were injured on the seas.

The combined effect of inhabiting coastal regions and being keen traders and sailors lead the Marinai to have notable foreign influence in their dialect and culture: Marinai dialect contains characteristics of what some linguistics believe are remains of Istroyan influence in the language, particularly present in the Verdiro dialect on Montverd, where even vocabulary has ancient Istroyan roots.

Montanaro
Inhabiting all of the mountainous highlands of Aciria, Montanaro presence has been and is strongest in the central highlands of what is colloqually known as ”Montanaro country”. Their seclusion from the rest of Aciria in the mountains has allowed the Montanaro to develop a distinct dialect and culture from the rest of the Acirian tribes, which historcally has lead to conflict between most notably the Aciriani and the Montanaro. The Aciriani-Montanaro conflict continues until today, most notably with the Second Montanaro Rebellion which has lead to Acirian military action in the central highlands.

The Montanaro population has always been lower than either Aciriani or Marinai, likely caused by the limited arable land present in the mountainous regions, which then lead the Montanaro to prefer a more pastoral, nomadic lifestyle. Not only did their lifestyle lead to a smaller population than the other Acirian tribes, it allowed for discrimination from the other tribes, citing their lack of agriculture as proof of their savagery. The historic Beatricist faith prevalent among the Montanaro was also a cause of discrimination from the primarily Catholic Aciriani.

The seclusion from rest of the Acirian tribes, and to an extent, the rest of the world, has allowed the Montanaro dialect to limit the foreign influences in their language. While a Romance language like Acirian, the Montanaro dialect is notable for the prevalence of Glaistic vocabulary in it, which has granted linguists a greater understanding of the Glaistic language.