Urceans

Urcean people

Total population
1.7+ billion
Regions with significant populations
Urcea	1,401,593,274
New Harren	6,502,552 (not including Nysdrine people)
Talionia	4,501,596
Unnuaq Mission State	11,321
Languages
Julian Ænglish, Lebhan, Latin
Religion
Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Caenish people, Garán people, Gassavelian 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.

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.

Identity

Despite global classifications of Urceans consistently placing them as among Latinic peoples, and relations between Urcea and Caphiria and other states on Sarpedon 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. Distinctly, Urceans do not see themselves as the same Latin peoples who forged and lived within Great Levantia, instead claiming heritage both from Great Levantia and the Gaelic peoples that it conquered, seeing themselves as the direct descendants of neither but instead the product of both. In this way, Urceans view themselves as the "consummation of the whole history of Levantia" in the words of Kiravian scholar P. G. W. Gelema.

Historic Urceanization

"Historic" Urceanization refers to a process which occurred beginning approximately in the 3rd century and ending in the 9th century that saw groups of Latinic people and Gaelic people living in Southern Levantia begin to form a single, albeit broad, cultural continuum that could be identified today as "Urcean". Much, though not all of this process, was accompanied by frequent intermarriage among these peoples, especially in the midst of and following the collapse of Great Levantia.

Late Urceanization

"Late" Urceanization refers to any continuation of the process of the growth and adaptation of Urcean identity by groups of people at any time following the 9th century. Subjects of late Urceanization tend to be groups living in Urcea's geographic periphery and ones incorporated into the country following the Golden Bull of 1098. Accordingly, these groups tend to have entirely different historical origins than the "valley Urceans" and also retain a partially separate identity. These groups - primarily the Caens, Gassavelians, and Garán peoples - nonetheless view themselves as Urcean under varying models of dual identity.

Dual identity

Dual identity is a sociological phenomenon prevalent among the groups of people who were subject to "late" Urceanization. People in these groups tend to view themselves as Urcean, both in terms of nationality as well as ethnicity, in addition to their core held ethnic view of themselves as a distinct people. While the relationship between Urcean nationality and these groups is fairly straight forward due to its long political control over their homelands, scholars and cultural observers have long been interested in what sense these groups consider themselves ethnically Urcean. The primary justification behind dual identity theory among its adherents is that, even if history separated the development of specific cultural mores and identity between the residents of the Valley and residents of the periphery, the original "ingredients" of these cultural groups are all the same. By way of example, this theory holds that a Gassavelian and a "valley Urcean" share ultimately the same origin point in ancient Gaelic peoples, even if the Gassavelians were later primarily influenced by people from Audonia while Valley residents were influenced by settlers from Adonerum.

Efforts by the Government of Urcea as well as cultural exchanges as part of the Levantine Union have largely failed to include people adhering to Derian identity - particularly those of Urcean nationality living in Transionia - within dual identity structure. Scholars have posited that the relative recentness of Transionia's incorporation, combined with severe ethnic tensions in and around Dericania since 1800, have made efforts at identity integration difficult.

Religion

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

Culture

Main article: Culture of Urcea

See also

• List of Urcean monarchs
• List of Urcean officials
• List of former Urcean officials