Paleo-Levantine peoples

The Paleo-Levantine peoples are those groups which inhabited Levantia prior to the Celtic and Gothic expansions and subsequent Latin Heroic Age. Most Paleo-Levantine groups are not culturally related to each other on any level which can be demonstrated by the standards of modern historical linguistics; instead, their only common attribute is that they do not (or, in the case of extinct and/or assimilated groups, did not) speak any languages of the Occidental language family. Though Gothic and Celtic peoples originated in Levantia, their success and subsequent interaction with Latinic peoples excludes them from the category. Most Paleo-Levantine groups have been lost to history, their presence attested at best by a few inscriptions and mentions in the chronicles of their conquerors, although many have left legacies in the form of linguistic substrates in various Occidental Levantine languages. Two groups endure down to the present day; the Nünsyak of Hendalarsk, speaking a language isolate and not known to be related to any other extant groups, and the various Orenstian people, who speak a wide range of Orenstian languages and are (with the exception of the Khunyer) located primarily in northeastern Levantia. Advocacy by these groups has led in recent decades to the formation and growth of the Organisation of the First Levantines, which aims to promote research into the history, culture and legacy of Paleo-Levantine groups across Levantia.

Orenstians

Orenstians are the largest surviving group of Paleo-Levantines, numbering in excess of 100 million people. Located in [northeastern Orenstian countries], and Hendalarsk, most Orenstians speak one of the Orenstian languages. Khunyer is the dominant language of the Samo-Khunyer branch, but most Orenstian languages are instead part of the [x] subfamily; historical linguists currently date the Samo-Khunyer split from the main Orenstian family to approximately 250 AD, centuries prior to their migration across central and western Levantia.