Tei
From Almeopedia
| < TEI |
The Tei [tɛi] are a people living on the southwest shore of Lake Lenan, most notable for speaking a Čia-Ša language; their closest sister language is spoken almost 2000 km away.
The Čia-Ša peoples were originally found in Bolon, and with the general Eastern explosion they expanded eastward along the Ctelm mountains, reaching as far as the upper Xengi. For a time in the 400s they had a kingdom, Javan, north of Lake Lenan.
The bulk of the Čia-Ša were pushed out of Bolon by the Bucair and Sainor, and ended up in Luduyn. However, a remnant remained west of Lenan. They fell under the authority of Puroŋeli in the 900s.
What reports we have suggest that there were nomadic and agricultural branches of the tribe, the latter concentrating on the shores of the lake. This area was conquered by Mei Ros around 1500, and became briefly independent a century later, as the principality of Lian, when the Mei were busy with the Kurundasti, before being absorbed themselves by the Tej.
The nomadic element of the Tei became closely aligned with the Tžuro, and converted to Jippirasti soon after Attafei’s victory. The Tžuro were not so interested in the lake community, but the Tei were, and effected the conversion of their agricultural cousins.
At this time, at the zenith of the Tej, the Tei city of Lanim was about the only Jippirasti city in the entire north of the Tej— that is, excluding conquered Wede:i and Axunemi cities. However, the later rulers of the area— the Tokruji from ~ 2000, the Sainor from ~ 2500— were less tolerant of urban life, and the city was looted repeatedly, until it was entirely abandoned.
Sainor power collapsed by 3000, under Lenani and Tžuro assaults; this left the Tei free for the first time in 1400 years. For a century they enjoyed the peace of the forgotten. They rebuilt their towns, and the chief of these, Murap, became a trading center for the region.
Tei was conquered by the expanding Cuolese empire in 3134. The urban Cuolese were not harsh masters, and Murap, as a natural stopping point on the northern trade route between Skouras and Xurno, burgeoned. When the Cuolese invasion of Belšai was defeated, however, the Tei decided to cast their lot with the confederation (3236).
Murap is now the northern metropolis of Belšai, a prosperous part of this most progressive of the southern nations. As such it has attracted a good deal of immigration; while the rest of the canton is still largely Tei, the city is only about 40% native Tei.
