People

The people of Atragam

This section contains information on the cultures of modern-day (post-imperial) Atragam; for information on historical cultures, the reader is referred to the history section. The individual subsections linked to on the left each deal with a particular people or culture; on this page I shall try to give an overview.

The people of Atragam come from five distinguishable racial groups, each descending from a separate group of people that migrated to Atragam from neighbouring continents. Three of these groups ended up in the northern half of the continent (Ithêra) one in the south (Engatar), and one on the island of Zaiatar in the west. Each race has distinctive features that mark them as descendants of the peoples they split off from. As there has been very little contact between the two sub-continents, the Engadron and Zaiadron are almost entirely pure in their racial ancestry, while the three Ithêran groups have mixed considerably.

The first and most widespread group are the Ussœrans, who arrived on the continent around 10,000 years ago and are now found all over Ithêra and have even begun to colonise the north coasts of Engatar. The Ussœran people are brown-skinned, mostly medium but never very dark. Their hair is straight and dark brown or black; most have dark brown eyes; they tend to be more broad-faced than the Vardiscêan or Sairyan people, though less so than the Zaiadrons.

The Vardiscêans arrived in the north-east of Ithêra much more recently, around 2000 years ago. These people had much paler skin than the Ussœrans; hair colour was mostly dark blond to light brown, but with a significant occurrence of red hair, and their eyes were green, blue, honey-coloured or sometimes brown. They were also noted for their height, which (at the time of first contact between the two races) averaged around 175cm for men and 162cm for women, as against 167cm and 156cm for the Ussœran people of the area. They were not very numerous, and although there are still a few aristocratic families with a higher proportion of Vardiscêan blood, most people in Vardeu today are a mixture of the Vardiscêan and Ussœran races, with consequent mixture of features.

The Sairyan people of the north are also thought to be a fairly recent arrival in Atragam. Their appearance would be described as Nordic if they appeared in our world, with blond hair and blue or grey eyes being predominant. Their initial population was much more numerous than the Vardiscêans, and consequently, although they have begun to mix with the other two groups, there are still a great many people who are unmixed Sairyan, especially in the northern lands.

The Zaiadrons are most easily distinguishable by their epicanthic folds, a feature not present in any of the other four groups. They have black hair and black eyes, and the typical skin colour is slightly paler and yellower than that of an Ussœran. They are also noted for their broad faces and high cheekbones. Lastly, the Engadrons stand out by their skin, which is much the darkest of any of the five groups, with dark hair and eyes to go with it; they are also noted for having much less body and facial hair than the other groups.

As for culture, the main division among the northern peoples is between the lands that were formerly part of the Arêndron Empire and those outside it. Naturally the Arêndron customs varied a little from place to place – particularly in Slaudja, where the influence of the conquered Vardiscêan people was highest – but nevertheless there was a strong Arêndron cultural identity, and the years since the fall of the Empire have not yet been sufficient to diffuse that. As for the outsiders, the main groups are those that have separate pages in this section: the Sairyans, Khalgwârans, Arzontadrons and Zaiadrons. Each is discussed more fully on its own page.