I also plan on adding more sub-divisions in the current binary of "Hulstrians" and "Gao-Showans", which seems rather unrealistically clear-cut after, peew, must be hundreds of centuries of co-existence, intermarriage and cultural exchange. My models for this are the melting pots of Late Antiquity and contemporary Israel, where the formerly deep divide between Ashkenazi (evil colonial Europeans!!!!) and Mizrahi (innocent misguided Jewish Arabs!!!) is gradually become meaningless due to intermarriage and a strong sense of shared national identity. A few more interesting minorities will also be added on the new protocols I plan to write, with a Sekowan community on the wrong side of the border being a must.
Any ideas?
Some drawing board concepts;
1) Folk-Hulstrians - Hulstrians who predominately live on the western frontiers, and have a South African/Rhodesian mentality. Don't speak Hulstro-Mikun at home, multilingual by necessity in order to communicate with the natives. Servant owning, plantation style culture.
2) Luthoro-Hulstrians - Aristocratic blue bloods who are descended from the original Luthori colonial elite. Small in number, but conspicuous by their wealth and connections. I feel the close connection between Luthori and Hulstria contrasts very strongly with the relationship between Revolutionary America and the British Empire, so I don't imagine that there was a mass exodus of Loyalists in a similar fashion as to what happened in America.
3) Reich-Hulstrians - The native Dundorfische speaking elite, proudly descended from the leaders of the original war of independence. Predominantly based in
Hulstria proper.
4) Hulstro-Showans - Originally lower class Dundorfic settlers who ended up so far down the button of Hulstria's class system they ended up living alongside the Gao-Showan peasantry, these are people who have been intermarrying and living with Gao-Showans for so long that they ceased to be "mix-race" and became a community in their own right. They are the source of the Hulstro-Mikun language, which has traditionally been seen as vulgar slang or a inferior dialect. Traditionally proletarian and/or rural, the Hulstro-Showans have gradually come into the mainstream over the long centuries.
5) Gisoten - Fully Hulstrised Gao-Showans, and converts to Hosianism (these two traits are, naturally, connected). Predominately middle-class, militaristic and highly royalist community.
6) Kunihito - The pure, "city-dweller" Gao-Showans. These are the dominant elite in the eastern half of the country. Speaks proper Kunikata, formerly the secondary group in the dual-Monarchy.
7) Gao-Draddwyr - Refugees from the "Welsh Genocide" who assimilated into Kunihito culture. Small, amish-like minority in the Empire proper. However, in the colonies larger tribes exist with a small inkling of national consciousness. Speak the Gao-Draddwyr language, which is Welsh run through the same converters as above.
Shimurū amu bisu!