Tsarkans

Flag of the Tsarkan People

**Tsarkans** (Tsarkese: Csrkąns) are an ethnic group native to the Iron Mountains of the Iskensh Peninsula. Tsarkans constitute the main population of the State of the Tsarkans, also known as Tioderon. There is a large diaspora of around ten-million people of full or partial Tsarkan ancestry living outside modern Tioderon. The present-day Tsarkan diaspora has formed primarily out of economic circumstances in the country and better opportunities in neighboring countries. Recently, the Tsarkan Civil War has also motivated many Tsarkans to settle elsewhere.

Tsarkese is an Iskesh language. It has two mutually intelligible spoken and written forms: Common Tsarkese, used in everyday conversation; and Sjoraka, an older form of Tsarkese now constrained to mostly ceremonial use within Tsarkan religious traditions.

Most Tsarkans adhere to the Faith of the Bell and worship under the Order of the Bellkeepers, which is the world's oldest national church. The Faith of the Bell began to spread among Tsarkan tribes in prehistory, as has been determined by archaeological study and research of Tsarkan folklore.

## Etymology

The earliest instances of the exonym *Tsarkan* first emerged around the 5th century B.C.E., an evolution of the common phrase calling Tsarkans, "Sjorakan's People", that had been used by Tsarkan tribes since prehistory. This phrase itself emerged as a result of commonplace Tsarkan creation and religious myths hailing Sjor as both a prophet and holy warrior. In these myths, it is said that Sjorakan led the Tsarkan people through the Long Night.

Given the early nomadic and tribal history of the Tsarkans, however, it is hard to say from where these names originated. Many archaeologists have held for decades that these names originated after the Tsarkan tribes migrated from Central Turan to the Iskensh Peninsula, sometime around 75 thousand years ago. Others claim that these names originated after the Tsarkans migrated from Southern Amilor to the Iskensh, around the same timeframe. Still, others claim that these names did not originate from the Iskensh at all, and that they have been passed down as the Tsarkans travelled either route.

## History

### Origin

Early anthropological and genetic studies from the beginning and end of the 20th century theorized that the Tsarkans were the descendants of the original settlers of Amilor. Although they are genetically distinctive in some ways due to isolation, the Tsarkans are still very typically Eastern Amilorean in terms of their Y-DNA and mtDNA sequences, and in terms of some other genetic loci. These same sequences are widespread throughout the Iskensh Peninsula, especially along the Southeastern fringe of the continent. The distinctiveness noted by studies of 'classical' genetic markers (such as blood groups) has resulted in a popular and long-held misleading view that Tsarkans are "living fossils" of the earliest modern humans who colonised Amilor.

However, studies of the Y-DNA haplogroups found that on their direct male lineages, the vast majority of modern Tsarkans have a common ancestry with other Eastern Amiloreans, namely a marked predominance of Haplogroup R1a (70%). Although also initially theorised to be a Palaeolithic marker, this theory encountered inconsistencies even prior to most recent chronological re-evaluations, as more recent studies instead conclude that R1a spread to the Iskensh Peninsula from Central Turan in the Neolithic period, between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Next to the main lineage R1a, high frequencies of E-V65 were found among some modern Tsarkan tribes. Several ancient DNA samples have been recovered and amplified from the Iskensh and Tsarkan region. The collection of mtDNA and Y-DNA haplogroups sampled there differed significantly compared to their modern frequencies. Geneticists concluded that there is "discontinuity" between ancient locals and modern Tsarkans. Thus, while Tsarkans harbour some very archaic mtDNA lineages, they are not of "undiluted Palaeolithic ancestry" but of significantly early Neolithic origin with a connection to the isolate [Armenian] people. Rather, some 5,500 years ago almost all Y-DNA heritage from Iskensh admixture of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers was replaced by the R1a lineage of herders from the steppe, and the Tsarkan genetic distinctiveness is a result of centuries of low population size, genetic drift, and endogamy.

Autosomal genetic studies have confirmed that Tsarkans share close genetic ties to other Amiloreans, especially with [Armenians] and [Georgians], who have a common genetic identity of over 60% with Tsarkans.

In 2011, a new scientific study of Tsarkan DNA was published which seems to indicate that Tsarkans are descendants of Neolithic farmers who mixed with local Mesolithic hunters before becoming genetically isolated from the rest of Amilor for millennia. Researchers analysed genetic material from eight Stone Age human skeletons found from the First Barrow archaeological site near Święchowa. These individuals lived between 3,500 and 5,500 years ago, after the transition to farming in the Iskensh. The results show that these early Iskensh farmers are the closest ancestors to present-day Tsarkans. According to the study, the "results show that the Tsarkans trace their ancestry to early farming groups from Iskensh, which contradicts previous views of them being a remnant population that trace their ancestry to Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups." These early Neolithic farmer ancestors of the Tsarkans, however, additionally mixed with local southeastern hunter-gatherers, and "the proportion of hunter gatherer-related admixture into early farmers also increased over the course of two millennia." This admixed group was also found to be ancestral to other modern-day Iskensh peoples, but while the Tsarkans remained relatively isolated for millennia after this time, later migrations into Iskensh led to distinct and additional admixture in all other Iskensh groups.

In 2013, a study was published in which a more fine-tuned and deep time-transect of Iskensh ancient populations including the Tsarkans were analyzed. From their abstract, it says: "and we reveal that present-day Tsarkans are best described as a typical Iron Age population without the admixture events that later affected the rest of Iskensh." This indicates Tsarkans were isolated from admixture with outside groups since at least 1,000 BCE, or 3,000 years before the present. In Iskensh, these later admixture (interbreeding) events were with Southern Amilorean, Central Turanics, Northern Nyasan, and Central Amilorean populations, and genomic ancestry from them are found in all or most present-day Iskensh populations, except – albeit to a limited extent even there – for the Tsarkans.

### Antiquity

The first geographical entity that was called Tioderon by neighboring peoples was the Tioderonese Confederation, established in the late 5th century BCE as a pact of mutual defense between the Old Cities of Solasca, Kiwerdima, Kiskeci, Leňava, and Komsowaisc. These cities themselves had been established in the centuries prior as a result of the settling of major farming tribes, and had come to be dominated by singular dynasties such as the Kasprzycki dynasty in Kiwerdima and the Sobolewicz dynasty in Kiskeci. With the emergence of rival kingdoms near the region of Tioderon, however, the Tsarkan city-states elected to put their differences aside and defend one another from attack, especially given the hostility of outsiders to the Faith of the Bell. At its zenith, the Confederation included as many as twenty-three Tsarkan cities, and extended from the Coast of Rusudan in the south to Mount Gišová to the north.

The Kingdom of Solasca was the first city-state to begin consolidating the Tioderon region through both conquest and persuasion, marked by the annexation of Kiwerdima in 58 BCE. This early kingdom continued its efforts throughout the next century, and became one of the first bureaucratically-organized states in the Iskensh region, which had long been dominated by Turanic nomad raiders. Efforts to solidify the Tsarkan national identity emerged around 200 CE, as scholars of the kingdom worked to adopt the [Latin] alphabet from Western Amilor in bureaucratic institutions. This event ushered the Golden Age of Tioderon, during which many foreign books and manuscripts printed in [Latin] were copied for Tsarkan archives and translated into Sjoraka for the common people. The kingdom eventually lost its sovereignty in 358 CE, however, when Turanic invaders from Central Turan landed on the tip of the Iskensh and began the First Turanic Invasion. For the next few centuries, the Tsarkans existed as a tributary state subservient to the Amirev Khanate, until the [Persian] conquest of Central Turan drew enough Turanics away from the Iskensh for the local states to revolt.

### Middle Ages

In 793 CE, the Tsarkans reestablished themselves as a sovereign kingdom under the leadership of Metody I of the Pelowski dynasty. This kingdom lasted only until 835 CE, however, before [Russian] invaders occupied it and installed the Skonieczny dynasty as tributaries. Throughout the next century of occupation, many Tsarkans fled Tioderon and moved further northwest, along the western coast of the Bay of Karlisaray. In 917 CE, they founded an independent Tsarkan principality called the Kingdom of Trenšiná, which became the focus of Tsarkan nationalism. The Tsarkans established close social, economic, and cultural ties with nearby Katharian states, but eventually succumbed to Ararat invasions. In the next few centuries, tribal confederations from the Ararat Peninsula such as the Manchaary ruled over the Tsarkans.

### Early Modern History

Ararat-ruled Iskensh was disrupted by the Second Turanic Invasion which began in 1275, and a large war between the Ararati and the [Russians] against the Turanics ensued throughout the next few decades. The Iskensh region was devastated during this time, with many local tribes conscripted to fight under whichever empire ruled their land at a given time. The Tsarkans were not immune to the fighting, but suffered the least of it, as tribes from across the region fled to the ancient homeland of Tioderon and solidly aligned themselves with the Katharian [Russians]. With the conclusion of the invasions in 1332, however, the Tsarkans and nearby [Russian] principalities found themselves once again under Central Turanic rule. It would take the efforts of the Principality of Novomozhyn and Vaniamin Tarnovetsky to weaken the hold of the Turanics in 1406, alongside support from Katharian crusaders who arrived in 1411 at the behest of the [Russian] church. Engaged in war with these parties, the Turanics were unable to maintain holds over the consolidated regions of Tioderon, [Chechnya], [Georgia], [Armenia], and more, and they were eventually forced to retreat to the eastern coast of the Iskensh by 1418.

Once more established as a sovereign kingdom, the Tsarkans organized themselves into the Kingdom of Tioderon, with Komosowaisc as its capital. Under the Krzemiński dynasty, Tioderon focused heavily on military innovation and defensive construction, creating fortified keeps far into the depths of the Iron Mountains. Bureaucracy once again became an administrative focus as well, with local governments established by tribal lines within smaller villages, and royal duchies created along geographic lines to be ruled by a council of tribal leaders.

The rule of the Krzemiński dynasty would come to and end in 1567, however, as the Kawalec dynasty from the old capital of Solasca usurped the throne following the Winter Coup. Ksawery I would become the first Kawalec ruler of Tioderon after nearly a century of scheming by the Kawalecs.

### Modern History

The Kingdom of Tioderon was one of the first states in Eastern Amilor to embrace industrialization, doing so around 1856, and did so in an effort to copy both the emerging Western Amiloreans and the [Chinese] in Turan. Agents of the Tioderonese government were dispatched to cities like [Rome], [Paris], [Berlin], and [Nanjing] in efforts to study the designs of machines from across the world, marked by the infamous Ostrowski Case in which Kacper Ostrowski - a Tioderonese government employee - was caught attempting to steal blueprints for a steam engine in [London].

When the industrial revolution began in earnest, Tioderon became one of the wealthiest states in Eastern Amilor, able to produce goods at a far faster rate than its neighbors and able to transport them faster as well, facilitating lower costs. [Russian] cities to the far east, for example, often wore clothes produced in Solasca as opposed to clothes produced in [Moscow]. This silver age lasted only a few decades, however, before a variety of factors contributed to the near-ousting of the Kawalecs and an economic recession.

Chief among these factors were a series of tariffs levied on Tsarkan goods by the [Russian] government, first implemented in 1879. Unable to compete with local Russian manufacturers, then, Tsarkan factories began churning out textiles without a destination. The small populations and nomadic culture of the Iskensh and Ararat Peninsulas meant there was little demand for manufactured goods, and regions such as Southern Amilor and the Akhdar Peninsula were already experiencing their own industrial revolutions. As such, Tsarkan manufacturers struggled to find customers for their goods, and quickly began to go out of business by 1881. Dynastic rivalry also contributed to the oncoming recession. Houses such as the Sławińskis of Leňava and the Wacławskis of Kiwerdima sensed the weakness of the Kawalecs, and desired to see themselves on the throne of Tioderon. As such, they attempted their own coup in 1884, and when it failed, rose in revolt against the Kawalecs.

The Duke's War lasted until 1889, and although the Kawalecs succeeded in retaining their throne, their country suffered immensely, and only did so further throughout the First World War, which would emerge only two decades later. Though mostly isolated from the fighting, Tsarkans still suffered from the economic impacts of the conflict, as well as because of the global refugee crisis the war spawned.