Peoples of the Seafaring Confederation

The Seafaring Confederation has more peoples within its borders than there are nations, thus creating several ethnic minorities as well as ethnic equals without a proper nation. Some of these peoples also have tribes within their ethnicity, or completely consist of tribes alone.

Main peoples

The main peoples are the official ethnic inhabitants of the 8 nations that constitute the Seafaring Confederation. These are the Saxons in Saxony, the Slesians, Holsteinians and Jutlanders in Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland, the Dogrics on Dogger, the Howrish in Howry, the Scots in the Highlands, the Rockallers in Rockall, the Faroese in the Faroe Islands and the Romians in Rom.

Saxony

The main people of Saxony are the Saxons, who live throughout the entirety of the nation of Saxony, with several diaspora in other areas of the Seafaring Confederation.

Saxons

Saxons live in the states of German Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony-State in the nation of Saxony. They are direct descendants of the Ancient Germanic tribes that used to live in the region, although they have mixed with surrounding ethnicities during the last few centuries. Whilst part of the Saxons migrated to the British Islands, many remained in what is currently Lower Saxony, and throughout the years took over what is now known as Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony-State.

Although the official native people of Saxony, they are not the dominant ethnic group in Dutch Lower Saxony, which historically has seen an influence from the Franci, which they retained even after the area was taken over by the Saxons prior to the downfall of the Frisian Kingdom. This means that, despite Dutch Lower Saxony being a part of Saxony, the people located in this State are of Dutch descent and thereby ethnically Dutch. They do however share many characteristics with German Lower Saxony, and despite their ethnic differences they do consider themselves Saxonians in the sense of nationality, a sentiment shared with the rest of Saxony and the Seafaring Confederation.

The largest settlements that are mostly Saxon are Hamburg, Hannover, Chemnitz, Leipzig and Dresden.

Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland

Due to the nature of Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland, it currently being three duchies which each have their own population, the nation is often considered to have three different native ethnic groups, which stems from the fact that all three duchies have different histories and had relatively few intermingling before the 18th century, and even afterwards they remained culturally, linguistically and even ethnically separate.

Slesians

Slesians are the native ethnic group living in the Duchy of Schleswig in the centre of the Jutland Peninsula. They are descendants of the Angli, a Germanic tribe that used to inhabit the Slesian part of the peninsula as well as areas on the British Islands. They started to separate from the Angli around the 14th century, when Schleswig became its own Duchy and started to continue separately.

The Slesians became an important ethnicity due to their location between the East Sea and the North Sea by digging a canal between the two seas to shorten travelling times, giving them a near-monopoly on the trade between the East Sea and the West Sea.

Major Slesian settlements include Schleswig, Eckernförde, Flensburg, Sonderburg, Aabenraa and Haderslev.

Holsteinians

Holsteinians are the ethnic group living in the Duchy of Holstein on the southernmost half of the Jutland Peninsula and in the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. The area was inhabited by the Saxons until it eventually grew into its own Duchy by the 15th century, after which it quickly grew into a separate nation.

The Holsteinians have historically possessed and currently still possess important ports within the East Sea region, which has prospered the Duchy considerably. They achieved this position due to the seas along their coastlines being unusually calm and easily navigable.

Major Holsteinian settlements are Kiel, Rendsburg, Neumünster and Lübeck.

Jutlanders

The Jutlanders are an ethnic group of Danish descent living in the part of the Jutland peninsula between the Northern Jutland Island and the northern border of the Duchy of Schleswig. Historically having been Danish but later conquered by the Slesians, the people are now a separate ethnic group with close connections to both the Slesians and the Danish.

Ethnic equals

Ethnic equals are peoples that are granted their own government and more autonomy, but that do not have an own nation. Instead, these ethnic equals are given a territory over which they exert certain powers, e.g. linguistic and cultural regulation, education, amongst others. They do not have the power of taxation, however, inhabitants and institutions of the territories cannot be treated differently under national taxation regulations.

There are 3 ethnic equals: the Frisians in Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland and Dogger, the Dutch in Dutch Lower Saxony in Saxony, and the Germans in Holstein in Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland.

Ethnic minorities

Ethnic minorities are ethnic native communities that do not have their own territory because they are unorganized or do not consider themselves as important or large enough to be considered ethnic equals. They do however retain their rights to speak their own language, and in the municipalities that they are located their native language is amongst the languages that are required to be used by local governments.

Danish

For more information, see: Danish areas in the Seafaring Confederation.

According to the 2014 Confederation Census there were 231,320 residents of Danish ethnicity living in the Seafaring Confederation. Of these, more than 90,000 lived in the Duchy of Jutland, almost 80,000 in Rockall, more than 60,000 in Saxony and more than 2,000 on the Faroese Islands. There are also smaller communities of Danish ethnicity present on other locations within the Confederation, but these are not large enough to be taken into account by the Census and were thus registered under "Others".

The Danish ethnic minority in Schleswig-Holstein-Jutland is located mostly in Jutland and especially along the Jutlandic-Danish border. Some of the larger Danish settlements around here are Uldum, Rask Mølle, Åle, Engesvang, Bording and Harboøre, as well as the peninsula municipality of Thyholm on the North Jutlandic Island and the island of Jegindø. There are also several Danish quarters in the cities of Vejle, Fredericia and Kolding. Between Aabenraa and Thyboron there are also countless smaller villages and hamlets with Danish populations.

The majority of the Danish ethnic minority in Rockall lives in the capital city of An Bhá nan Éirith Ghréine, with several other communities located in smaller villages in the Lóda na Núille. There is also a significant Danish community located on Aoleoil.

Saxony has two major Danish communities, one of which is located in and around Cuxhaven, namely in Altenbruch, Altenwalde, Arensch, Duhnen, Nordhorz and Sahlenburg, as well as several quarters of Cuxhaven proper. The other community consists of several villages, smaller towns and city quarters located along the Elbe between Tangermünde and Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt.

The Danish community on the Faroe Islands exists mostly due to historical ties between the two nations, and Danish people generally live intertwined with Faroese people.

English

For more information see: English areas in the Highlands.

According to the 2014 Census there were 31,824 residents of English ethnicity living in the Seafaring Confederation. All of these lived in the Highlands, most of which lived in the River Spey Valley in the Grampian Mountains, especially upwards from Knockando. There are also smaller communities of English ethnicity present in other nations within the Confederation, but these are not large enough to be taken into account by the Census and were thus registered under "Others".

Irish

For more information see: Green Belt of Rockall.

According to population estimates there are approximately 300,000 residents of Irish ethnicity living in the Seafaring Confederation, at least 280,000 of which live on Rockall in what is known as the Green Belt in the Viscountcy of An Uinnia. These are Irish people who fled the island of Ireland under British rule and established several communities to the southwest of An Bhá nan Éirith Ghréine.

The largest settlement of the Irish population is Baile Átha Cliath Ruiceal.

French

There is a significant French population around Kassel in Germany, of which approximately 8,000 have located themselves in the municipality of Staufenberg (Mont Stauf) in the southernmost tip of German Lower Saxony. It is the only Francophone area in the Confederation.

See also

• Tribes of the Seafaring Confederation