On the Peoples of Greater Bretony

On the Peoples of Greater Bretony
by Saylas Roquenne, University of Gwylim

	To many an outlander, the land of Greater Bretony and the accompanying territories, formally known as the Province of High Rock, presents in imagination a dull picture of rolling hills where nondescript Manmer and the occasional Mer live in quiet, insignificant existence, broken only by an occasional pogrom against the mountain-dwelling orcs. Such exhausting concepts notwithstanding, Bretony presents a far different reality to an enthusiastic visitor, for the stereotypical uniform dullness is nonetheless merely an illusionary construct thought up by ignorant faux-scholars of Cyrodiil-on-Rumare.

	On the most basic level, the nation of High Rock can most broadly be defined into three categories: the southern people of Bretony proper and the Bayfolk, both of significant Mer blood; the northerners of the Kurallian Mountains and the Normar highlands; last but not least, the eastern folk of the upper basin of the Bjoulsae and the Outer Reach. Additionally, there are those who do not fit this division. On the northern coast, some of the eastern folk have through centuries of intermingling and cultural diffusion strayed closer to the Nords, yet they still look to Bretony for kinship. Even further from the ancient Albaliche bloodline, one may find the Reachmen as well as the Bjoulsaeans. A clear timeline has not yet been made but the exact relation between these two offshoots remain a popular topic of debate and research among the scholastica. In his latest linguistic study (see: Admanaia Gwylimae, i.MMMCCCLVII-37) Heilarc Defal posits that a common ancestry existed through the Galenian culture but an early differentiation and subsequent external influence led to a high rate of alienation and the creation of new, separate identities. Furthermore, Defal points out certain pre-Bretic elements in both groups which raise more questions regarding the background of ancient Hroc.