The Valo-Sunarian People of Sunar

Imperial Peoples: The Suno-Valoni People

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The Valo-Sunarians

THE VALO-SUNARIAN PEOPLE

Appearance

Despite being a haven of Valoni culture thousands of miles from their homeland, the Valo-Sunarians have avoided mixing with the locals and to this day retain much of their Valoni heritage, both racially and culturally. For this reason the Valo-Sunarians possess a pale northern complexion unseen anywhere else in, or around, the Sunarian Empire.
Furthermore, most Valoni have hair that ranges from brown to black in coloration. Sometimes, blond or red tints or strands will appear, but a full head of blond or red hair is very unusual in a person with full blooded Valoni heritage, and the trait is usually indicative of muddied blood in a person's ancestry. Among the Valo-Sunarians these more exotic colors are virtually non existent, as interbreeding almost never occurs between them and other peoples.
Valoni height is fairly standard as well, with both men and women coming in somewhere between 5'5 to 6'2.

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Population and Geographic Location

Numbering only about 300,000 today, the Valo-Sunarian population of the Fourth Empire are a small, rich aristocracy, who once ruled in the age of the Third Empire. Left over from the time when Valone ruled the world, this small demographic are primarily located in the northern Sun Delta, around the city of Quartir.

Language

Most Valo-Sunarians are fluent in both Imperial Sunarian and Valoni, though they speak the latter with a strong accent. It is theorized that this accent is in actuality the true dialect spoken by the old empire, however, the current Valoni Empire fiercely disputes this idea. The Valo-Sunarians are bilingual as a direct result of their extreme wealth and status, which allows them access to the best tutors, and to obtain an excellent education.

History and Influence

The Valo-Sunarians arrived in Sunar fairly recently in the greater history of the empire, appearing only a few centuries ago when their legions occupied the ancient southern superpower. The first Valo-Sunarians would as such be legionnaires, stationed to garrison the far flung, but immensely rich territory. Gradually, over centuries of Valoni rule, these soldiers were joined by migrants who made the trek south in hopes of making a fortune in the exotic land, and in many cases they succeeded. Wealth would give these Valoni power, and with that power, they purchased autonomy from the distant Valoni government. As such, when Valone began to unravel at the end of the Third Dawn, the Valo-Sunarians took power from the military, and seceded from the dying superpower.
From this the Third Empire would rise, with the Valo-Sunarians as its leaders. Appointing a Valoni as emperor, the government bore striking similarity to the ancient Sunarian state, but differed in its aristocratic minded, and oftentimes oligarchic, style of governance. The Third Empire would last just over a century, before native uprisings became too serious for the Valo-Sunarians to overcome, and they were forced to abdicate power.
Agreeing to step down peacefully so long as they were allowed to maintain their property and wealth the Valo-Sunarians got off incredibly easy for the severity of corruption and tyranny they were responsible for. The only real downside in this agreement was that the Valo-Sunarians would be barred from holding office or posting in the bureaucracy or military of the empire. The logic behind this was to restore order quickly and effectively while also ensuring the return of Sunarian rule in Sunar, but it failed spectacularly in limiting the influence of the foreign Valo-Sunarians. Still in possession of a truly massive sum of the empire’s wealth, it was and remains an easy task for them to assert themselves politically, be it through bribery or threats of secession if their interests are ignored.
As such the Valo-Sunarians are still an immensely powerful faction within the country, who hold onto an unbalanced percentage of the country's wealth.

Citizenship

Considered a special form of denizen within the empire, the Valo-Sunarians are as already stated not given the right to hold office or posting in government or military. They are, however, given special permissions to engage in the trade of wine and olives without proper licensing, and are exempt from taxation. These benefits are furthermore provided alongside the numerous other benefits granted to imperial denizens, making the Valoni some of the most well of residents of the empire, despite technically, not being allowed to actually hold government power. This situation has been a frequent source of disorder and controversy for the empire, but the Valo-Sunarians have wisely kept to themselves, and have thus not drawn the ire of the far larger native population, who they know would expel them in a heartbeat if given the chance.

Work and Economic Level

The Valo-Sunarians are an immensely wealthy minority within the empire, and live pampered, decadent lives as a result. In the the style of Old Valone, these heirs to its culture are also perceived by outsiders as highly debauched. Holding feasts, parties and galas almost every other week, the Valo-Sunarians are often the topic of gossip among Sunarians, who believe they engage in hedonistic orgies and lack any sort of moral compass.
Most of the wealth that enables this lifestyle is derived from the Valo-Sunarian dominance of the olive and wine trade within the empire. This is because olives and wine are not native to Sunar or the surrounding lands, and were only introduced a few centuries ago when the Valoni began to influence the region. Of course most of the labor on the Valo-Sunarian plantations, vineyards and villas is not handled by the them themselves. Instead almost every Valo-Sunarian land owner hires native labor to toil in the fields, or work as their servants on their vast, sprawling estates.

Religion

Governing over a vast sea of pagan natives, while also paying fealty to Valone's own gods, quickly proved an impossible endeavor, for the Third Empire. For this reason, it was not long before the Valo-Sunarian emperors restored the worship of Sunemrah, which had grown dormant after over a millenia of foreign rule, by first the Cult of Cusireen, and then Valone. This return of Sune as imperial goddess would see the majority of the Valo-Sunarians begin to worship her as a source of divine legitimacy. They did this at first, as a show though, in an effort win over the support of the locals, while maintaining their own beliefs in secret. After a few generations though, the effect became real as Valo-Sunarian emperors abandoned Valoni polytheism, restored the ritual of alemana, and re-abolished slavery. These efforts were not enough to fully win over the loyalty of the natives, however, and as mentioned, the Third Empire collapsed only a century or so from its foundation.

Sunarian Perception of the Valo-Sunarians

Sunarians strongly dislike the Valo-Sunarians and view them as an unwelcome drain on the empire and its people. Jealous of their wealth, and capacity to influence the government, most Sunarians keep a wide distance from Valo-Sunarian communities. There do exist a small few, however, who put this enmity to the side in favor of a steady wage as servants or laborers of the Valo-Sunarians. These people are often looked down on by their countrymen, as spineless, though.

Valo-Sunarians Perception of the Sunarians

Forced out of power just over a century ago, the Valo-Sunarians are a content minority solely for the fact that they were able to cede power peacefully, and in so doing kept most of their wealth. Perceiving this loss of power as unjust many look down upon the Sunarians who they see as technologically, culturally, and racially beneath their more prestigious Valoni ethnicity. Despite this there also exists a significant level of fear among the Valo-Sunarians, who recognize they are heavily outnumbered by the natives. For this reason most keep their beliefs to themselves, only truly revealing them among other Valo-Sunarians.

Cultural or Ethnic Mixing

The Valo-Sunarians have embraced some Sunarian customs, but have by and large done so purely to appease the sizable native majority which surrounds them. Perceiving their own people as superior, the Valo-Sunarians rarely visit Sunar’s urban centers, and instead remain in tight knit communities throughout the eastern parts of the Sun Delta. As such Interbreeding or marriage between Valo-Sunarians and Sunarians is borderline non existent, with either group strongly disliking the other.

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