Eshavian Coscivians
The Eshavians are a Coscivian ethnic group, one of the largest single ethnic groups in the Kiravian Federacy.
| Eshavians Eśavs Param | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Ethno-nationality |
| Population | 55-62 million |
| Polity | Kingdom of Eśav |
| Language | Eshavian Coscivian |
| Religion | Ruricanism (traditional) Various others |
| IDO Status | Forward |
| Subgroups | Green Eshavians, Blue Eshavians, Marþonans |
| Related Groups | Taństans, Liśkans, Ebondans, Ferūlans |
| Distribution | |
| Home State | Fariva, Harma, Valta |
| Diaspora | Throughout Kirav |
History
[History]
Language
[Classification] [General characteristics, morphological typology] [Notable features]
Eshavian Coscivian is one of the most widely-spoken ethnic vernacular languages of Kirav, with a long literary tradition and a well-developed network of Eshavian-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 Eshavian Coscivian than of the other vernacular languages of commensurate size, with most Eshavian-speakers outside of the Northeast also speaking in Kiravic. Monolingual Eshavian-speakers are also found in the Overseas Regions.
Religion
Ruricanism is the traditional faith of the Eshavian people, but since the XYZth century the ethnic group has become increasingly diverse in terms of religion. Among the modern Eshavians there are Archepiscopals, Mercantile Protestants, members of numerous small Eshavian-initiated heterodox Christian sects, Iduans, Komarists, Sarostivists, Unitarians, Universalists, and members of urban new religious movements. Ethnic Eshavians who adhere to Catholicism are commonly referred to as Marþonans, though this term more properly refers to a specific subgroup of Latin-Rite Catholics Eshavians, most of whom live in close-knit communities in rural Harma and in Avenirskara. Some Eshavians have adopted Reformed Orthodoxy (Theophilianism). Whatever their creed, however, most Eshavians (especially Eshavian 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 Eshavians have a stratified, hierarchical culture that places great importance on notions of social rank, propriety, and protocol.
Most Eshavian marriages are endogamous, but patterns of exogamy vary according to social rank and class. Rural Eshavians are the most strictly endogamous segment of the ethnic group, followed by Republican-class Eshavians in metropolitan and micropolitan areas who trace their ancestry to the old yeomanry and lesser nobility of Old Eshav. Eshavians involved in the maritime industry, seaborne commerce, and the navy have traditionally been more open to exogamy, while many aristocratic Eshavian 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 Eshavians 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 Eshavian marriage prospects in a particular region, as well as their family histories, and publish this information in annual "marriage almanacs" to help young Eshavians seeking spouses. Cousin marriage is traditionally accepted among the Eshavians, and in fact preferred among some subgroups.
Although a minority of Eshavians adhere to Sarostivism, Eshavians and Taństans, like the unrelated Lúnstans but unlike most other seafaring Coscivian peoples, have traditionally not observed the Sarostivist-derived taboo against whaling.
Adorning buildings with ivy.
Eshavian tradition of higher education. Their own recension of High Coscivian. "Eshavian Model" universities across Kiravia.
The Eshavians have a strong tea culture 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. Eshavian tea culture includes several tea-centred rituals, a literary canon of tea classics, and the inclusion of tea consumption into other aspects of life, such as business meetings and hospitality customs. Like other Coscivians, the Eshavians 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 Eshavians are closely related to several other Coscivian ethnic groups, including the Taństans, the Liśkans of Livensóla, Ebondans, and Nūrþans, some of whom share Eshavian Coscivian as their mother tongue; and more distantly to the Erasans, Kagurans, and Ferúlans, with whom they share many cultural similarities.
The people of the Svéaran Peninsula in Kaviska State are ethnically Kir, but have a historical and ancestral relationship with the Eshavians, evident in substantial Eshavian influence on their Kiravic dialect and many other common cultural elements.
Due to the widespread geographic distribution of the Eshavians, historical conflicts between Eshavian and non-Eshavian polities, and Eshavians' socio-economic status as middleman minorities or market-dominant minorities in many areas they inhabit, there is a long and continuing history of animosity between Eshavians and various other Coscivian peoples. Emnity is particularly strong between the Eshavians and the Ĥeiran Coscivians and Valosian Coscivians.
In the multiethnic metropolitan areas of Fariva, such as Bérasar and Norvimur, members of the many non-Eshavian/Taństan groups that have immigrated to these areas over the centuries have adopted many aspects of Eshavian-derived Farivan regional culture, but nonetheless maintain identities distinct from the dominant urban Eshavian minority. Interethnic tension in these cities is strongly related to perceptions of social class and institutional power differentials.
Distribution
Eshavians can be found throughout the Kiravian Federacy. Their traditional homeland is located in the Far Northeastern states of Fariva, Harma, Ostona, Serikorda, and Bissáv. Areas of newer settlement where Taństans are similarly dominant include Erinava and the Aromatic Isles. Large populations can be found in the Kaviska (divided between the long-established Green Eshavians and more recent migrants from Andera, termed Blue Eshavians), much of Upper Kirav, Venèra, northeastern Kastera, Devahoma, and Oceantropica.
Important cities outside of the officially Eshavian-speaking states where Eshavians comprise a large percentage of the population include: