Rasheem
The Rasheem are an ethnolinguistic group in Outer Joriscia, particularly in Terophan, Azophin, Dekoral and western Lacre and the surrounding areas but also to a lesser extent elsewhere. The Rasheem are defined primarily by their use of the Rashimic language. Physiologically, Rasheem are prototypically short, squat, and have epicanthal folds, although there is a great number of Rasheem who do not possess these characteristics. There are significant Rashimic-speaking populations in almost every country in Outer Joriscia thanks to extensive settlement programmes during the Neritsovid period.
Etymology and nomenclature
Over their history the Rasheem have been known by various names. The oldest self-designation of which we are aware is Hinevī, i.e. 'Anabbine' (inhabitant of Inabo), and cognate terms continued to be used by non-Rasheem well into the medieval period to designate Rashimic speakers, although already in the 13th century we find northern Rasheem referring to themselves as Mešāhi (from Mešāh, 'east', i.e. the eastern extension of Anabbah proper) or Ternāhi ('Tormetian') and their southern counterparts as Heḵsī ('Axiovy'). Under the Tirfatsevids and then under Great Neritsia, they were referred to in High Secote usage simply as zemljin (ⰈⰅⰏⰎⰉⰐⰟ), 'landsman' or 'commoner'. This term was calqued into Rashimic as Hěrši, which appears regularly in Rashimic texts in the Neritsovid period. Although in its plural form Hěršiem this word has provided the Ellish term, however, in local usage it typically referred to commoners as distinct from various other Rashimic-speaking groups – the High Nobility, the Bgheets and the Serim – and when used for the language (Hěršieṯ) means 'vernacular' or even 'vulgar' speech. Today there is no single endonym in common use in Outer Joriscia that covers all Rasheem. The word Hǐnviem, now archaic for 'Anabbines', is occasionally used in historical contexts, as are Tirfeiši or Nrieši (i.e. 'Tirfatsevids' or 'Neritsovids'), but all three have limited everyday currency; in Azophin and Terophan Rasheem communities abroad are typically called Hǐnviem but this designation is not extended to Azophines or Terophites themselves. Rasheem predominantly identify themselves by their country of origin.
Origins and spread
The Rasheem originate in northern Anabbah, close to the Gates of Cinnabar. The first attestations of the Rashimic language date from the early years of the first millennium CE, although there are some earlier examples of personal names and toponyms in Dabaian texts which may represent proto-Rashimic forms, and the differentiation between Rashimic and northern Dabaian at this juncture suggests a point of divergence well before the onset of the Common Era. The exact extent of Rasheem settlement at this point is unclear. In any case, with the founding and rapid expansion of the Kingdom of Inabo in the late 6th century Rashimic was quickly established as the administrative language and koine of much of Anabbah. During the Chotarian period it continued to make advances against its southern relatives, and by the Secote conquest in 1028CE it was the dominant spoken language throughout the Anabbine heartland. The Chotarian period also saw Rashimic speakers moving further eastwards, beyond Anabbah. The gradual expansion of settlement towards the Tormaytah, accelerated by the depopulation in that region following the Yassan plague and facilitated by political unity with Chotar, was a largely natural process. But Rasheem were also deliberately implanted in modern Terophan following the revolt of Sambil of Selbzi during the Schism in the North (728–760).
The extent to which the Axiovy-speaking regions north of the Tormaytah ('Tormetia') had already been Rashimicised by the Secote conquest is a point of contention; contemporary accounts confirm that both were still spoken, although in which proportions and with what exact geographical distribution remains unclear. The victory of the Rasheem general Youv in the war to establish ascendancy in the Commandery of Tormetia, however, spelled the end for Axiovy as an urban language there, and by the Tirfatsevid conquest two and a half centuries later Rashimic had become the administrative and literary language as well as the vernacular of the Tormetian heartland. The process was more complex in modern Terophan to the south, where Rasheem populations were long-established and remained linguistically distinct but made no significant progress towards displacing or assimilating Axiovy. Only during the Tirfatsevid period, after the First Sack of Axopol, were borderland Rasheem imported in large numbers to resettle the devastated capital, and from this point onwards the balance shifted dramatically in favour of Rashimic as the koine and prestigious choice of vernacular along the entirety of the modern Rashimic Littoral. But even this major development – which marks the end of Axopol as an Axiovy-speaking city – had limited effects beyond the coastal region, and the interior of modern Terophan and the Azophine uplands were still predominantly Axiovy by the completion of the Neritsovid conquest in 1495.
The final victory of Rashimic was ultimately a product of the Neritsovid era. Nerits made his capital, naturally enough, at Rashimic-speaking Axopol, and drew heavily on the Vesnite Rasheem of the Banner of the Greater West for hieratic and administrative staff. Rasheem settlement of the Terophatic interior and south, inspired by the mokykla-founding campaigns of the Prophet and his early followers, had already begun in the late Tirfatsevid era; it now accelerated enormously. The association of Rashimic with Vaestism and the thoroughly Rashimic nature of the existing Vesnite infrastructure meant that Axiovy often adopted Rasheem names and habits on conversion (despite the continuing existence of Rashimophone Sirian communities in the cities). Moreover, as the empire expanded, the practice of using non-local Pièche garrisons implanted Rasheem communities throughout southern Outer Joriscia, and in much of High Lacre and all of Upper Dekoral these communities ultimately assimilated the local Sirians. By the Great Imperial Restoration in 1701 there were Rasheem towns as far afield as Zemay, Lefdim and Cazacasia, and the basic linguistic map of Outer Joriscia – rural survivals notwithstanding – would have been roughly recognisable to the modern observer.