Duiniken

General introduction

The Duiniken (singular: Duinihh) are an ancient people originally stemming from central eastern Erana, the area that is nowadays called Tarrabaenia, having its new inhabitants, the Tarrabaenians as a namesake. Currently the Duiniken live in Nuat Duinis Talou ('new land of the Duiniken) on the eastern shore of the continent, having been forced out of their old homeland shortly after the beginning of the current Era of the Earth by said Tarrabaenians and the Messellat Mdûlûn, a local sea elf people settling around the Grey Sea.

The Duiniken have a deep hatred for the elves who played the largest role in their defeat. The only Len they ever dealt with in a non-military way were the Umoyaleyn of the Moiyeli Swamplands, with whom they negotiated safe passage over the Sévo Mountains and through parts of Madini and Andaperna during their retreat east.

While the Duiniken have at first thrived and in northern Andaperna and Nuat Duinis Talou, they are now restricted to Nuat Duinis Talou. This is by no means a setback, considering the Duinniken have adapted well to their new environment and are preparing to take back their homeland for centuries. Feeding of their grudges and hatred against Tarrabaenians and Messellat Mdûlûn alike, they have honed their military skills, crafted machinery for war and destruction and built a culture around religious and political fundamentalism, making the Duiniken society one of the most homogenous in all of Samthô.

History

The Duiniken have supposedly lived in central eastern Erana since the Era of the Water. At least that's what their own writings say. Historical proof of their existence as a people and their presence in the area can be traced back to the Era of the Trees, from when first ruins of buildings with dateable inscriptions exist. The early inscriptions are short, noting nothing more than the date of the dedication of the building or the name of the king or nobleman who reigned when the building was dedicated.

The content of the inscriptions, however short they might seem, give nonetheless an insight into genealogies, if only at a small scale. Also relative dating, as absolute dating is near impossible to achieve, is an endeavour Tarrabaenian scholars venture into a lot as the relative peace their Confederation is enjoying at the moment enables them well to pay their attention into cultural and historical studies. Duiniken spies bring some writings on their people back to their new homeland Nuat Duinis Talou, where especially the parts that contradict public reason in the current regimes doctrine is met with harsh criticism, even contempt, further spiking the anti-Tarrabaenian sentiments of the Duiniken.

During the end of the Era of the Trees, inscriptions tell the stories also told by Messellat Mdûlûn sources: Envoys or sentries from the South were coming, prospecting the land, establishing bridgeheads on the southern shores. During that time the city states of Sossa, Fila, Otat and Dofa were forced into one sided treaties with these newcomers, leading to a partial exodus of those people into what is now known as Andaperna. These newcomers of course were from the Asargam Empire that brought about the Great Scorching and the Era of the Fire, which ultimately lead to more intense tensions with the Messellat Mdûlûn to the South and also to the heavy burden of a mass migration from the North which brought the Tarrabaenians on the stage.

After the turmoil of the catastrophic events during the Great Scorching and the Era of the Fire, writing of annals, genealogies and histories picked up. Pressured by foreign cultures, their own building of a culture burgeoned, most likely as an effort to differentiate oneself from the others. Later on stone inscriptions also bore more political or military contents. One of the most well known of these is King Douhhsúl's Declaration which was commisioned on occasion of a very successful Duiniken campaign against the Messellat Mdûlûn.

In the end, though, the pressure from the South and from the uprising newly arrived Tarrabaenians forced the Duiniken to move East. While a relatively short lived Duiniken kingdom existed in northern Andaperna for a while, Nuat Duinis Talou has become the people's main new settlement area. From here they plot and prepare to retake their old home, as soon as the time is right.