Buycev

**Buycev** is a term used by Ynnic Ruinborn Elves to refer to the tribal Ruinborn who live along the outer tributaries of the Ynn River. Often translated as barbarian, the term can also mean warrior or savage in Sarda language.

## Buycev Distinction

The main peoples traditionally regarded as Buycev are:

* Cursed Ones, presented as the main enemy of Ynnic civilization and the group with the least amount of peaceful interaction. Respected and feared for their tactical ability and smithing techniques, and their ferocity in battle.
* Epednar, nomadic riders living in the Epednan Expanse. They are credited for driving off the ancestors of the Sarda from their original home, razing their western cities through a combination of political and military cunning.
* Veykodans, regarded as the original natives of Sarda. Their runic magic is seen as powerful but also dangerous and self-destructive.
* Old Rzentur and Rzentur. These groups are sometime accepted as fellow Ynnics due to two factors:
	+ The lack of visible physical mutation between Ynnics proper and Rzentur.
	+ The Rzentur's adoption of many elements of Ynnic culture and settled lifestyle, having become subjects of the Ynnic Empire since the sixth century After Ash.

Boek and Teira have also been referred to as Buycev. It was theorized that the name Boek might be a cognate of the word Buycev.

Eordan Ruinborn Elves are not considered as Buycev, nor are Cannorians.

## Discrimination

Buycev are generally regarded as untrustworthy and warmongers, and likely to change their allegiances and stances from day to night. This opinion might have developed from the Ynnic Empire's difficulties in maintaining Buycev client states.

Buycev are also discriminated for their mutated appearance compared to Ynnic Ruinborn (who look near-identical to Moon Elves), and are called *Oskoaren* or Corrupted because of this. Even if a Buycev were to adopt the Ynnic ways and civilize, he would remain a Corrupted because of his appearance, and Ynnic Ruinborn may refuse to associate with him.

When people from a Buycev group lived within the borders of the Ynnic Empire they were often treated as second-class citizens, as was the case for the Rzentur, who were initially confined to ghettos and designated villages away from the towns of proper Ynnics.

Cannorian people, while also seen with distrust at times, are considered to be more civilized than Buycev. After the Discovery of Aelantir many Cannorians invaded the territory of Buycev tribes and settled it with their homesteads, receiving the vocal approval of neighbouring Ynnic lords.

## The Chosen Doctrine

The origin myth of Ynn River Worship states that the previous world was cleansed of its sinners by the rising tides of the Ynn River and only a chosen few were spared for their virtue. Allegedly, when the Adbrabohvi river-priests codified the Myth of the Ending Flood at the Council of Velikvab, their intention was for all living beings who survived the Ending Flood to figure among those chosen, and this included the Buycev. This didn't prevent many Ynnics from discriminating the Buycev, claiming they had fallen onto the stray path of barbarism, while others went as far as to claim that the Buycev were the straddling remnants of the evil world which the Ynn failed to cleanse completely, ascribing their mutated appearance to not just physical but also moral and spiritual corruption.

## The Celadil Controversy

In 1470 AA, Lord Carodin II of Arverynn had started the reconquest of his alleged birthright, the Ynnic Empire. To gain an edge against the feudal lords he was trying to subjugate, he had formed the Veykodan Guard, a unit of Veykodan rune warriors and sabertooth riders who secured him many resounding victories.

Controversy ensued: story goes that Lord Celadil Konyrzab of Vels Fadhecai commented about the irony of how Arverynn, a former bulwark against Buycev, was now paying the Buycev to reclaim its empire. The ensuing arguments had the unforeseen consequence of sparking a theological debate over the origin of the Corrupted Ruinborn, where Carodin was forced to choose a side. He had two options:

* Declaring only the Ynnics were chosen, and thus the Veykodans were an evil people he had been earnestly trying to set on the path of righteousness.
* Declaring that all Buycev, including Veykodans, were fellow brothers of the Ynnic Ruinborn who had only fallen to barbarism temporarily.