Derian identity

Derian identity, sometimes referred to as Derianism, is the proposition that the peoples of Dericania are related in such a way as to constitute them as a single nation, the Derian people.

Etymology

The term Derian likely originates from an ancient Gaelic term, thoir, meaning "east" or "eastern". The term is first attested to in the 8th century as an exonym used by proto-Urcean people, but it gradually entered common use with the establishment of the Levantine Empire referring to people living in the Eastern Kingdom of the Levantines. The name Derian, and its derivation "Deric", entered increasingly official use in the medieval period, with the Kingdom having been called the "Kingdom of Dericania" by the late 11th century. "Derian" as a term referring to a distinct ethnic group, rather than a general term referring to residents of the Kingdom of Dericania, began to be used some time in the 1760s, which is when the modern Derian vs. Deric convention entered common and official use.

Involved ethnicities

Many of the "ethnicities" included within the question of Derian identity are groupings of people based on their spoken language rather than any deeper set of genetic similarities, as most people in historic Dericania share genetic origin regardless of the identity group of which they are a part - nearly all Dericanians are descended in some degree from ancient Celtic peoples and the Latinic people who conquered them, forming Great Levantia. Accordingly, historical development of senses of identity and ethnicity are relatively fluid in this region. The two groups most commonly known as "Derian" today - the Lapodards and the Rhotians - are almost entirely linguistic nationalities with only recent history creating distinctions between these groups.

Rhotians

Main article: Rhotia

Rhotians are an ethnic group based on linguistic ties residing in western Dericania. Their language, Rhotian, is descended from the Latin language of late Great Levantia and exhibits significant Celtic influences along with some limited Gothic ones. Accordingly, they are viewed to be more closely related to Urcean people and their related sub-identities, with Lebhan and Rhotian having a degree of mutual intelligibility.

Lapodards

Main article: Lapody

Lapodards are an ethnic group based on linguistic ties residing in eastern Dericania. Their language, Lapodard, exhibits stronger ties to other vulgar derivations of the ancient Latin language as well as some influences of Istroyan language, making it distantly related more to the Burgoignesc language than more Celtic-inspired languages like Lebhan.

Bergendii

Main article: Bergendii

The Bergendii, or the Bergendii peoples, are a Derian ethnocultural group tracing their ancestry back to modern-day Burgundie, but more specifically the Istroyo-Adonerii peoples of the northern parts of Burgundie (Ile Burgundie and Nostrestran) and not the Gassavelians of Faramount. Due to their centuries of maritime travel, the Bergendii live on every continent and with few exceptions are present in almost every country on earth, this is especially true of countries with coastlines.

History of the concept

Origins and Deric Awakening

Like many other peoples in the Holy Levantine Empire, the people of Dericania can trace their origins to the Latin Heroic Age and Great Levantia, with residents of Dericania being an admixture of Latinic and Gaelic heritages, with Rhotians and Lapodards in particular having a greater continual Latinic ancestry than their neighbors. The relative similarity of these peoples lead to the rise of the exonym Menquoi and later renewed concepts of Levantine identity, which referred to both the residents of Dericania and Urcea; the "Menquoi" terminology would later be viewed as derogatory by both peoples.

The Two Derics

Following the establishment of a distinct concept as a Derian nation, inevitable controversies ensued over who would be included in such a people. The term "the Two Derics" refers to two identically named but separate (though related) debates occurring in the Kingdom of Dericania in the 19th century regarding the issue of Derian identity as it related to ethnic minorities within the Kingdom, particularly the residents of what would become Burgundie. The disputes largely fought between intellectuals and scholars of the Bergendii people and what might be referred to as "core Derians", the Rhotian and Lapodard peoples. The debate on the Two Derics would be the seminal event of Derian identity during the 19th century and would lay the groundwork for the Second Great War in Levantia as well as the future decline of Derianism.

The first debate occurred within the Deric Awakening during and following the Deric defeat in the and considered the question of whether or not the Bergendii were considered to be part of the Derian people and, accordingly, if they had a role in any "Derian state" to be formed in the future. During this debate, the "maximalist position" - that is, that they ought to be included - was prevalent among most prominent Derian nationalist but was not popular among the Bergendii themselves. The Maximalist position espoused the idea of "Great Dericania", which included not only Rhotians and Lapodards and the Bergendii but also the people of Hollona and Diorisia. The first debate came to a head with Le Crise della Dix, a political crisis following the Third Caroline War wherein Bergendii were expected to surrender land to fellow Derian princes in the name of national solidarity. The resulting First Fratricide established an independent Bergendii nation, Burgundie. Latent Burgophobia proved to be a strong unifying force which enabled the Derian national project to come to encompass Hollona and Diorisia.

The second debate occurred from the 1890s to the 1920s and concerned the construction of the Kingdom of Dericania, which was now largely dominated by Burgundie and an opposing bloc of Derian princes. The second debate specifically related to whether or not Burgundie should be a part of Dericania at all or if a united Derian realm could be created out of the Kingdom by separating Burgundie, either by elevating the latter to a Kingdom, making it a nominal part of the Imperial Kingdom of Urcea, by divesting the Emperor of the Levantines of the Dericanian crown in order to create a single realm, or some combination of the above options. This primarily legal and political debate was not resolved until the Second Great War and dominated the political discourse of the day in both the Derian realms and Burgundie, leading to the abdication of Emperor August I in 1920 among other incidents.

End of Derianism

The full integration of the members of the Deric States in the Levantine Union following the Second Great War lead to a decline of Derianism as a distinct philosophical and political concept, both in terms of its development as well as its popularity. The decline of the concept lead to a loss of identity with not only Derianism as a whole but also the Derian nations that were established in the wake of the Third Fratricide. The establishment of relatively stable modern nations, and the mobility and openness afforded by the Levantine Union contributed to Derians instead viewing themselves as part of their constituent language groups, the Rhotians and Lapodards, or as citizens of the Levantine Union.

In addition to the political changes that facilitated the end of Derian identity, the development and widespread adoption of the internet throughout the Levantine Union in the 1980s created a cultural move away from a unified Derian identity. Many residents of the Deric States, for the first time on a daily basis, had major exposure to the cultural traditions and language of the other parts of the Deric States. The rise of internet communication had the functional effect of dividing, not uniting, the people of the Deric States. Rhotians and Lapodards began to emphasize what made their individual groups unique rather than what united them, and by the 1990s a majority of people living in modern day Rhotia and Lapody began to answer "I am more similar to people living in my own country or a neighboring country than those who live in Rhotian/Lapodard speaking countries" in public polling. The identification and support for what made Lapodards and Rhotians unique grew significantly with the development of Web 2.0 and the mainstreaming of online culture, and by 2003 most major universities throughout the Deric States began to offer courses on "Local Commonality", dissecting the differences between the two major Deric groups.

The political and social developments of the post-Second Great War era, as well as a general decrease of function in the Deric States organization in favor of the organs of the Levantine Union lead to the Dissolution of the Deric States in the 2020s and 2030s. The question of inclusion of Hollona and Diorisia was definitively decided by their withdrawal from the Deric States in the mid 2020s and embrace of a distinct ethnic and cultural identity. With the Deric area now significantly reduced, the trend towards recognition of shared linguistic groups became far more popular than that of a Derian identity.