I. Preliminary Remarks
It is not quite easy to
describe the society of "the Fergiartuya", at least not if you want to
do justice to the diversity of the different tribes that constitute the
people of Fergiartu. At first we have to introduce an important
definition here: When we talk about "the Fergiartuya", we use a concept
from the Fergiartan language that denotes the inhabitants of a certain
territory. In this case the inhabitants of the Fergiartan Empire resp.
the members of the different Fergiartan tribes in
general. "Fergiartu" in contrast denotes on the one hand the
Fergiartan tribe of the Fergiartu, which originally settled within the
bay of Sakasemme; in a broader sense it denotes the Fergiartan empire
resp. "the Fergiartan people" in its different temporal and
geographical characteristics.
As we can see from this definition,
the diversity we talked about does not even comprise the mixing with
other ethnic groups within the huge empire. We cannot even describe a
"homogeneous" society for the three big parts of the early empire (Senimarga, Satisanzia/Fergiartu and Marimarga).
And although the Senimarga and Satisanzia as predecessor and successor
state are closer to each other concerning their
characteristics
than, say, Satisanzia and Marimarga, there exists already a large
cultural gap
between the original tribe of the Fergiartu and the residents of
Satisanzia. Of course, the situation is further complicated by the
fact, that the inhabitants of Satisanzia are considerably more
inhomogeneous than for example the inhabitants of the Marimarga. This
ethnic group probably goes back to a single tribe in its "Fergiartan"
components, although it certainly mixed with other ethnic groups in the
course of the expansion westwards.
The task
is further complicated by the fact that we have only few and moreover
incongruent traces from the early times. We have already spoken of this
in our historical introduction. Since the Fergiartuya have
come from the steppes beyond the land bridge, their origin can be
described as that of a nomadic people. But while some of the tribes
retained their nomadic character for a longer time and have advanced
into the territory of the Maqára (where the tribes have become
sedentary since about the third century a.M., thus stepping out of
their historical anonymity), the vast majority of Fergiartuya
have cast off their nomadic lifestyle relatively soon. An important
argument for this are the early settlement traces from the bay
of Valyêkana. The prince's grave of Remayêka could still stem from the
times of the nomadic lifestyle because there are no known settlement
remains from these times beside the grave itself. The earliest
settlement traces from this area come from the fifth century before the
founding of the empire by Meyapotina.
So
why did the Fergiartuya
lose their nomadic lifestyle so fast? There are only about threehundred
years between the immigration and the first settlement traces, after
all. Some scholars therefore have concluded that the
Fergiartuya have had only few members who have either mingled
with other, already sedentary peoples, or the Fergiartuya had come as
conquerors and had established themselves as a pure ruling class. An
argument against this is certainly the great number of tribes, who
moreover colonized and eventually even ruled a whole
continent.
The dynamic within such a process also argues against such a
conclusion. We can not completely rule this out however, especially
since we have only few informations about the population of the
continent at the time of the immigration of the Fergiartuya. Not to
mention from the times before.
The further classification:
Society of the Satisanzia (up to Meyapotina's death)