Wirlomeyan

The Wirlomei, also known as Wirl are a group of people and a nation known to haunt ancient pit-like structures all around Rathnir known as "Pisus". The Palatine Confederacy is currently the only nation where wirl are an ethnic majority.

Most specimens were known to haunt the citadel of Utumno before it was destroyed by Axyr during the Usurpation of Yimmu-Audal, currently an unknown amount of wirlomei have adopted a nomadic lifestyle or have formed diaspora populations, mainly in Ardat Mosul.

It currently disputed whether wirlomei are related to humans or are a different species entirely. This uncertainty was born mostly from their small population numbers, lack of cooperation with researchers and lack of any cities, but after the consolidation of the Confederacy it's been widely accepted that wirl lack a connection with humanity, the sole exception being Escharia, where they are still cited as part of the Niedene race.

Morphology
The wirlomei people are either made partially or entirely out of a black, either dust or dewy-like, substance called singru. Apart from that wirl morphology is remarkably inconsistent, having enormous variation on both composition, size, and shape amongst specimens. It's even been appreciated how a single individual can dramatically change their appearance with time.

As a general rule most wirlomei adopt a human-like bipedal disposition. However, exceptions to this are abundant.

Origin
There are two mainstream theories that speak about the nature of the wirlomei, the called "acquired umbrism theory" and the "fundamentalist umbric theory"

Acquired umbrism theory.
This theory sustains that wirlomei are an Annuvo-Etschari people, traditional builders and traders that just so happen to suffer from a disease caused by the infernal influence of the Nether. This theory is favoured in Escharia.

Fundamentalist umbric theory.
This theory sustains wirlomei are not humans in the slightest, rather being a species of demon born out of shadow/void overgrowth. This is the most widely accepted out of the two theories although is considered blasphemy by the escharien as it's deeply linked to the Cruor Heresy.

Origin
Wirlomei hold no ancestral land, being dispersed all around Rathnir. They are known to not form nor integrate into societies, which makes it ever harder to study them but easy to know whether they are or not present in a given zone.

The wirl people do tend to gather withing ruinous citadels from time immemorial, called pisus. It's unknown whether these citadels were constructed by other wirlomei long ago or if they're occupying them illegally; nor is it known what exactly is inside them. The only two known wirlomei citadels are Ninansuyo and Utumno, of which neither stand today.

Culture
Wirl people are not particularly uniform when it comes to culture, apart from a few national symbols such as the rotten sun of Cruorism and the Wirlomeyan Cross. However, wirl value seniority and thus wirl recognise there are three main wirlomei culture groups:

Ninansuy
The Ninansuy believe on the idea of an "eternal journey" that the wirl people have followed. A ninansuyid wirlomeyan refers to any member of the wirl race that was around by the time the citadel of Ninansuyo was cursed and placed under the mandate of Norfthorn for the first time after the Great Jagdas Migration. Most ninansuy died after the destruction of the citadel by Axyr and apart from him there's no records of there being any other surviving specimens.

Udún
Udún wirlomei are extremely secretive. If not entirely made out of it, a wirl will grow singru appendices to cover up any recognisable features with a kind of veil-like construction which will conceal any recognisable features they might have. It's not known why this practice is as commonplace as it is. Udún wirlomei used to be the inhabitants of the now destroyed citadel of Utumno, and are generally loyalists that followed and helped Axyr with the foundation of the Palatine Confederation and generally are high ranking government officials.

Carcosan
Carcosan wirlomei are any wirl that migrated to the confederacy without being present during the times ot Utumno or Ninansuyo.

Religion
Historically they worshipped a god named Caliburnus, of whom most myths were lost to time after a crusade was launched by Escharia to convert them into Soleannen. It's believed this resulted in the burning of what little historical record was held inside the fortress, as they possessed no writing system before being integrated in the empire and most information was stored in the form of enchanted water.

They currently practise what seemed to be a highly antagonistic and secular version of Soleannen known as Cruor Cruoris, but encrypted manuscripts found in the ruins of Utumno seem to indicate no conversion ever took place, despite what the Escharien crusade intended. However, the dating and decryption of these books still result problematic for researchers.

The wirl language (also known as Utumnic) was an historical language mostly used for record-keeping. The language fell entirely out of use after the Usurpation of Yimmu-Audal, when most of the population adopted a dialect of ancient Ardati as their primary language as a sign of good faith and friendship.