Exalted Cartographers
Doussan Trade Routes, Year 2325 BCE
Peoples
Mosereans - Accompanying the king in his self-deportation, among several groups, were some Mosereans. A few bustling families joined him hoping to escape perpetual instability around Etass, toughing their wares and merchant expertise across the tattered Royal Route. Already in Doussa they have setup shop, as they industriously do everywhere they pass. A makeshift market was sponsored in a joint venture by all the families, and trade has begun to flow. As of most recent, the market's saw Quram's support, and his son continues to maintain the roads, walls and assist with further infrastructure to the market.
Exalted Mariners - Formed in response to the whole, you know, watery thing to Doussas west, the Exalted Mariners are the nascent navy of the fledgling exaltation. All the romantic adventurers within Doussa congregate to serve in the Mariners. The fleet is small, however interest is high, because only other jobs involve the backbreaking work of rebuilding a city, mining a mountain, and farming a fallen valley.
Military-Bureaucrats - The definition of an exaltation. These bright men walked the path the king created. So small they are a countable number. The viziers of Qurams court, and now his son's, the highest level bureaucrats, are mostly pure-blood Aramyans from ancient times. They oversee construction, administer justice, they are judges, expert witnesses and executioners. They are mostly Aramyan, but then there are a few Formans here and there.
Formans - The ban on marriage has been lifted. The ban on dying was emplaced. Dont do that, cmon you guys, seriously now, stop shrinking in size. Kitab. Perhaps less than one hundred remain, and importing Forman wives is no longer a possibility. Formans served as a vital leg in the instrument of Etassian power, being close to the exalted king's side on both diplomatic and military issues. Being so far removed from the Levant, they wont exist as an ethnic group for more than a century
but
as a political force
Altyrians - The historic colonial immigrants of Doussa: now known as natives to the new rulers. They are a relic of older times, frequently employing ancient family tricks to meld superior copper weapons, or build strong houses, and most recently, contort wood into large boats. Altyrians pass into and out of Doussa rather commonly and unnoticed.
Priests - The glue of Levean cities, most priests of Etass fled; the religious tension was too strong. It didnt happen in an instant, but progressively Doussa filled with more priests than it needed, and therefore more temples were demanded than could be built. The extra manpower manifested itself in grass-roots temples popping up of a plethora of gods. Doussa's religion is handled by the King himself, who orchestrates the construction and lets his military-bureaucrats determine its managerial, clerical staff. All gods are welcome to the city of Doussa, be you Kitabalist or Exnot, though only Kitabalist gods receive luxurious, royally stamped and undertaken temples.
Aramyans - Whats in a name? Letters, I suppose, but what really makes a culture? A people? A heritage? Shared ancestors? Shared geography? Aramyans come from the base of the Tigris-Euphrates river system, but they mean so much more. In Doussa, pure Aramyan bloodline is preferred, among the some thousand higher classes, to the extent that Aramyans from Old Aramya itself are sought to make weddings proper. At the moment, there are ample refugees to populate with.
Iordanes - The original pastoral natives of the valley which the city of Doussa resides. This industrious and adaptive kinship based tribal people existed here for centuries before Altyrian colonization, which they quickly adjusted to, or exalted rulership, which they now work passively with. Iordanes are multifarious in their endeavors, being miners, farmers, warriors but most prominently shepherds. Though these traits bind them ethnically, their tendancies have always inclined them towards viewing their chief head as the centre of their community. Iordanes fight amongst each other, but their rivalries never result in a larger power, because the general balance maintains as other clans break the hold, or the larger clan breaks internally because its size cannot be maintained by a single patriarch. Regardless, their constant bickering has created a diverse and competitive culture, who are willing to work for their rewards.
City of Doussa
Approaching 25,000 in population, the city of Doussa is highly diverse, and constantly in motion. The most recent migratory incursion of Aramyans now includes 25% of the total population, the most stable group of residents. The group itself is composed of various Aramyan cultures, including Hurrians, distant Parushans and intermixed Hyaks. The entire myriad however doesn't distinguish past Cameon writing, Kitabic speaking, immigrants from the south.
The Mosereans, native to Hurria, have also incorporated themselves within the city walls of Doussa. They are the second most stable residents, however their trade voyages frequently take them elsewhere, and sometimes for years in succession. They compose a very small 5% of the total population. A powerful, ethnically close and wealthy cabal, which is often working closely with the Aramyan, exalted king.
Then Altyrians, a large 28% of Doussans, and though this figure remains the same, the residing Altyrians do not. Most Altyrians visit Varna as a homeland of sorts, usually feeling only vague loyalty to Doussa itself. Though plenty do reside for life, and few consider Doussa a place to be forsaken, they simply see Doussa as the minor partner in a greater Altyrian society, not a society unto itself.
The remainder of the population are urban Iordanes, who are the most mobile of all the groups. Urban Iordanes aren't as far reaching as the Mosereans or Altyrians, however their movements are the most frequent in and out of the city; they are the working class, the miners, builders and farmers of the surrounding area. Their families are versatile, and they often carry hideskin tents in family units, going between familiar clan regions. This is itself very different also from the rural Iordanes, who stay within their communities for most of their lives save for warfare and general gathering and hunting.
The Kitabalist, Aramyan government holds these multitudes of peoples together under the uniting power of trade, and the cultural inclusion of all their respective beliefs. This normally would not suit the colonizing Aramyan population, however their general exhaustion from fighting religious conflicts has alleviated their willingness to contest the tolerance. Regardless of it as well, the slow indoctrination of urban Iordanes, and the progressive diffusion from those urban Iordanes to those rural ones, is convincing enough to prevent overly enthusiastic religious subjugation from regular Aramyans, and though priests may find a cozy place preaching, the king does not sponsor their rural temples.
