Manuaks

The Manuaks or Manuak Vrals, sometimes Manwaks or Dahari, are a Vralo-Harrimi native to the Dahar Desert and mainly inhabiting the Manuak world in Harad, Kasare, northern Skephon and western Alutra, primarily identified by their use of the Manuak language, as well as other various unifying traits, such as adherence to H'Ejrad and more abstract cultural similarities. Composed of a multitude of diverse tribes or subgroups, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in the world, making up about XX% of the world's population at an estimated 1.7 billion Manuaks across the globe.

Originating in the Dahari interior in central Harad, the Manuaks are believed to have emerged as a distinct group of Vralo-Harrimi people sometime around the mid- to late-2nd millennium BC. The first attestations to the Manuak people appear in the late-2nd millennium BC as a nomadic people that had driven the native Drammikantu out of much of the Dahar. While initially restricted to the Dahar, Manuak settlement came to encompass the whole of Harad, including Haksarad beyond the Hibrag Mountains, as well as Esharat in Alutra and sporadic colonies throughout the Abayadi Sea following the life and death of the Prophet Bathur and the subsequent Wars of the Shurain and later expansions. Migration into these conquered territories, combined with widespread Manuakification, expanded the Manuak world drastically.

Historically, Manuak identity is primarily linguistic, cultural, geographical and, to a lesser extent, religious. It generally refers to those who reside in the Manuak world or among its diaspora and who consider Manuak to be their mother tongue. While the vast majority of Manuaks are Jarader, there are minority Manuak communities of other faiths, though these communities often develop their own distinct ethnic identity.

Etymology
Though the Manuaks are sometimes referred to as “Dahari,” they have never used that name themselves, nor is it the first name under which they appear in recorded history. The first recorded mention of a Vralo-Harrimi people in the south of the Dahar Desert occurs in the Annals of Drambemasakolosi IV, a fragmentary Drammikantu of the rule of the eponymous king, which allegedly began c. 1900 BC. While the historicity of Drambemasakolosi IV and his rule is tentative at best, and the Vralo-Harrimi had almost certainly not arrived in the Dahar by 1900 BC, let alone had the Manuaks become their own distinct identity, scholars generally agree that the annals were compiled sometime in the 16th century BC, meaning the Vralo-Harrimi were present in the southern Dahar by that time. The quadrilingual make mention of the the Jendahmu (roughly “bright-eyed”), “that uncivilized people who roam the Leth, though they were not born there,” Leth being the Drammikantu name for the Dahar Desert. The annals also say of the Jendahmu that they “number 100,000 men under 100,000 banners,” and “in the thirty-third year of Drambemasakolosi's reign, the unruly Jendahmu encroached upon his lands and were justly driven from the river's edge.” The annals also refer to the Wōrru in the north of Harad beyond the Dahar, referring to the Vralo-Harrimi as a whole, and possibly indicating the presence of a Jendahmu identity in the Dahar, separate from the Wōrru as a whole by the 16th century BC, though this alone is not conclusive. The early Rakallas refer to the Varghirēt and the Ospayurem, the two tribes from which the Manuaks are traditionally descended. These two tribes are said to be Sakhtēsh Dahrrem (“wanderers of the Dahar”) and Munēsh Tūlurem (“sons of the south”). Subsequent Rakallas of the early period collectively refer to these two tribes interchangeably as Daharye, Daharuy, Dahri or Dahra.

The origin of the name Manuak is far from a settled matter. According to the and, it was derived from the name of Menwor, a Vralo-Harrimi slave-general who served under Orjon during his invasion of Harad. Scholars have put forth many alternative hypotheses, but the prevailing theory is that the name finds its origin in two Proto-Vralo-Harrimi elements: mun (“son”) and uwelk (“javelin”). Whatever the name's origin, it first enters the historical record through the Shimuron Stele, which commemorates the 11th century BC coronation of Thashbat as king of Shimuron and states that “100,000 Manuwakēsh came to pay honor to Thashbat.”

Proto-Vrals
The presence of the Vralo-Harrimi people in Harad is the result of Proto-Vralic migrations from western Alutra, which began c. 1800 BC and spread Proto-Vralic peoples not only into Far Harad, but also into central and southern Alutra, Haksarad and northern Skephon.

The Vralo-Harrimi emerged from the Proto-Vrals, who are most often identified with the Acakros culture within the subsequent wider Byleth horizon on the Alutran Steppe, stretching from central Velorenkya in the north to the Ventoran coast in the south, and central Kleolaion in the east to the Harrat Mountains in the west.

Acakros culture
The Acakros culture is a  in the Alutran Steppe in what is today Kleolaion, dated to about 1900-1600 BC. It is thought to be the result of an admixture of the westward migrating Horse Burial culture and the Clay Mask culture. It is generally considered to be the origin of the Vralic languages.

Byleth culture
The Byleth culture is an consisting of several related Late Bronze Age cultures in western Alutra c. 1900-1200 BC. The Byleth culture is considered to have grown out of the Acakros culture, which is included within the greater Byleth horizon alongside two other subcultures, the Isseka culture and the Arkaš culture.

Proto-Vralic migrations
The migration of the Proto-Vralo-Harrimi into Harad was only a small part of a much larger dissemination of Proto-Vrals from their homeland in the Alutran Steppe, from which their expansion outward resulted in the genesis of the Vralic peoples, including the Urras and the Worls, as well as the extinct Sovim, Farekki, Khosam and Raulii peoples. Even those Vralic peoples which remain extant outside of Harad have been massively reduced as a result of later migrations, with many succumbing to Kleolaikification, Kanakization, Ventrozation, Tagarification and Velorenization.

The Proto-Vralic migration began c. 1800 BC, and within this larger diffusion, the migration into Harad is believed to have taken place sometime during the 17th century BC. According to Vralo-Harrimi tradition, their disparate tribes were rallied and led west into Harad by Orjon after suffering a major military defeat to a rival people in what is now Velorenkya.

Rakallan civilization
What is known about the early Vralo-Harrimi comes to us from the Rakallas, the earliest of which were probably first written down between 1500 and 1200 BC following a period of dissemination through. The Vrals brought with them to Harad distinct customs and beliefs, and connections can be seen between Rakallan practices and those of both the Proto-Vralic archeological cultures and Vralic peoples contemporary to the Rakallas. The Vralic practices of horse burial and, as well as a belief in an all-pervading cosmic force that ruled over a vast collection of god-like spirits, are present throughout the Rakallas, but the Proto-Vralic religion did not remain unchanged. Rather, Rakallan practice is a composite of Proto-Vralic religion with the folk religions of northern Harad, particularly in its integration of its own deities into the complex hierarchy of Harrimi gods and spirits, its association of the cosmic force with the Harrimi practice of and its absorption of the native priestly class and ritual. The Dahar being the farthest-flung of the Rakallan territories, the Rakallas make little mention of it. However, it is not entirely absent. The earliest Rakallas make frequent reference to the hundred tribes of the Vralo-Harrimi that participated in the early conquests. The Sadyalla, which names each of these hundred tribes and their rulers, as well as those of the native Harrimi, first tells of the Varghirēt, the Helriye and the Ospayurem, three tribes that settled in the southern reaches of Vralo-Harrimi territory, on the edge of the Dahar Desert. While the Helriye never appear again through the Rakallas, toward the middle of the Early Rakallan Period (c. 1600-1200 BC), writings begin to refer to the Varghirēt and Ospayurem tribes as having descended from Menwor, a slave-general of the Vralo-Harrimi king Orjon. Descent from Menwor through these two tribes was a major component of early Manuak identity, and throughout the millennia, Manuak writings have referred to “Father Varghi” and “Mother Ospaye.”

Around the same time the Varghirēt and Ospayurem began to be associated with Menwor, the two tribes began to be conflated with one another to some extent. The earliest names—though in truth they are more phrases than proper names—applied to both the tribes of the Dahar are 'Sakhtēsh Dahrrem' (“wanderers of the Dahar”) and 'Munēsh Tūlurem' (“sons of the south”). Toward the end of the Early Rakallan Period, Daharye (sometimes the feminine Daharuy), meaning “[those] from the Dahar,” became the standard. Elsewhere in the early Rakallas, they are referred to as Dahri and Dahra.

It is in the beginning of the Late Rakallan Period (c. 1200-800 BC) that a name resembling Manuak first appears. The earliest such name comes from the Ozdukalla, which refers to the Mengurem as among the “brothers in blood” (a ubiquitous phrase used throughout the Rakallas to refer to Vralo-Harrimi peoples) who “paid honor to Qelishkur II.” It is in the Ghatralla (c. 900 BC) that the name Manuak finally appears in the Rakallan corpus.

Subgroups
The term “Manuak,” in the strictest sense, applies to those Vralo-Harrimi people that find their origin in the native Manuak tribes of the Dahar Desert. These Manuaks are often referred to in the Manuak world as “Pure Manuaks” or “Core Manuaks” to distinguish them from other peoples who have come to be considered Manuaks through intermingling and Manuakification.

Manuaks are largely centered in Harad, but are also present in large numbers throughout the Abayadi Sea and in Kasare. Before the Wars of the Shurain, the Manuaks were generally relegated to the Dahar, and were considered by their neighbors to have been an unimportant and unruly people on the fringes of civilization, their tribes fit either for client status or destruction. After the death of the Prophet Bathur, those tribes from which his companions had come were afforded a special status, and they, along with their direct descendants, the shurain, came to conquer vast swathes of land in the name of H'Ejrad, spreading Manuak language and culture with them.

As the Manuaks expanded throughout Harad, they subsumed the majority of the other Vralo-Harrimi and native Harrimi peoples and their tribes, in some cases merging them into established Manuak tribes, in others Manuakifying and absorbing the tribes wholecloth into their tribal structure as new tribes, considered to be Manuak.

Religion
The people that inhabited the Dahar and the rest of Harad before the arrival of the Vralo-Harrimi practiced a diverse range of ancient folk religions connected by the worship of a hierarchical pantheon of various deities. Additionally, sun and were common among the people of northwestern Harad. The migratory Vralo-Harrimi brought with them a vast collection of god-like spirits, all subject to an all-pervading cosmic force, as well as strong practices of ancestor worship and horse burial.

From the merger of this religious substrate with the beliefs and practices introduced by the Vralo-Harrimi, the Rakallan religion as depicted in the Rakallas arose in the north of the continent. Additionally, early examples of the developing Rakallan religion can be seen in the Diwarret site. Sites such as this also help to demonstrate that the image drawn from the Rakallas reflects actual folk practice, a long-debated matter.

The folk religions of the native peoples of the Dahar were unique among the pre-Rakallan Harrimi faiths for their strong spiritualism, emphasizing   and. These practices were absorbed into the Rakallan religion in the Dahar, and from this tradition arose H'Ejrad. For over two thousand years, the vast majority of Manuaks have been practitioners of H'Ejrad, and the spread of Jarader religion and Manuak culture and language have largely gone hand-in-hand.

Science
The contributions of the ancient Manuaks to science and laid the foundations for many scientific traditions throughout the Manuak world and beyond. The esoteric mysticism of the Manuaks was transplanted into the wider Rakallan world with the spread of H'Ejrad, and the combination of the Manuak contemplative disposition with the organized priestly class of northern Harad led to the birth of one of the world's most ancient and prosperous scholarly communities.

Language and literature
Manuak as a common language is one of the unifying characteristics of Manuak identity. It is a Vralo-Harrimi language of the Vralic family and has by far the most speakers of any language from either group.

Although Rakallan was considered the  of the ancient Rakallan world, it was also full of various local. Manuak evolved from one of these informal dialects, called Old Dahari. By the 8th century BC, use of Rakallan had declined significantly, being mostly supplanted by its various local daughter languages, including Old Dahari.

Old Dahari and Manuak carried the literary legacy of the Rakallas, each subsequent languages producing seminal works of their own, with perhaps the most important being the Tashallas and the Bathurallas respectively, the latter being the central Jarader, written by Bathur in the 6th century BC and considered by Jaraders to be the “crown” or “fulfillment” of the Rakallas and the Tashallas.