Serrona

Serrona is a region in the Stoneworks world of Eldham, it is the Southeastern-most body of land in the world, falling along both the South and East world borders. It is surrounded by the regions of Leifmyrr to the Northeast, Onthukhan to the Northwest, and Arsine to the direct West.

It is unique in several regards, possibly being the single most culturally diverse region of Eldham in terms of ethnic, linguistic, and religious variety and development. It is the homeland of several 'races' or 'species' of people including - but not limited to - the Lo'Oix, Vulpur, Humans, Vespirs, Konn, Durn, and extinct peoples like the Eternyri.

The region is generally split into two smaller geographical and political regions, with Vustada to the West and Lausá to the East. Some of the languages spoken include Lo'Oi, Mari, Kolsson which are all indigenous to Lausá, with languages like Vulpin and Durnic being spoken across Vustada. In particular, Vustada is well-known for including many 'anthropomorphic ' species/races as opposed to Lausá which has species/races of people that are either literally Human or closely related.

Initial habitation and settlement
It is unknown precisely when the first peoples came to Serrona, but it is believed that the first signs of humanoid habitation date to around 150,000 years ago. Somewhat ironically, this first habitation was not Homo sapiens sapiens - often simply called Humans - but instead another humanoid species that is now extinct called Homo erectus. These early hominids inhabited the near entirety of Northern and Eastern Serrona uninterupted for around 40,000 years.

It was at this point (110,000 years ago) that the first signs of another sentient species came to be in Serrona; the Vespirs. It is unknown precisely how they came to be, most modern scholars suggest that they evolved from insects or came from another world that we do not know about yet. However, the Vespirs historically only inhabited a small region in Southwestern Serrona and made little contact with the early populations of Homo erectus. It has been suggested both through folklore and modern scholarly evidence that the Vespirs may have domesticated a then-archaic 'frog-like' peoples to use in chattel slavery, these 'frog-like' peoples eventually giving way to the modern Konn. At this point there were three sentient species of humanoid creatures on Serrona: the Homo erectus, Vespir, and the early Konn.

Further adaptation and growth of sentience
Around 90,000 years ago massive ecological catastrophe occurred in Eldham. Prior to this sea levels were relatively high; this being the primary reason why the Vespir/Konn where separated geographically from the populations of Homo erectus; much of modern Kolssonafell and Vulpinia was entirely underwater. Things began to change drastically however as a glaciation event occurred which caused a massive drop in sea levels meaning that for the first time not only was all of Serrona connected, but that there was newfound niches for growth and adaptation of numerous peoples.

This glaciation event caused a mass-die off of the many rainforests that used to cover the entirety of Serrona and many other places in Eldham, ironically not as much because of the cold but instead because of the decrease in air moisture. This meant that numerous species now had to adapt to open wide areas with little cover and shelter, and it is believed that this is what gave way to modern Eldham's numerous unique peoples.

In Serrona specifically, this glaciation event is what caused the Vulpur people to truly diverge from a lineage of foxes and slowly develop sentience. Additionally, it is what ultimately triggered the splitting of the Homo erectus populations into multiple new populations including but not limited to the Lo'Oix, Durn, and Eternyri. Homo erectus died out very soon thereafter, not from war or hostility but simply because they diverged and developed into new species. At this point, there was still zero contemporary Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) in the entirety of Serrona and the surrounding region.

Approximately 40,000 years ago, we saw yet another climatic change in Serrona as sea levels began to rapidly rise again due to melting glaciers which moved from being on land into the sea. These sea levels remained high until very recently, the sea levels only decreased to where they are today around 2,500 years ago from the present. It is not believed that this climatic change and rise in sea levels caused any further development of new peoples, instead simply dividing the peoples and restraining them to certain island chains; having little contact with one another. These societies continued to develop and diversify in their respective geographical regions. The Vulpur and Durn developed alongside one another on an island chain in modern day Vulpinia, Batu, and the Bai region. To their South, the Vespir and Konn lived on a large island of elevated land. To the East, the Lo'Oix and Eternyri developed alongside one another on a massive chain of islands that expanded from the top to the bottom of modern Lausá.

Around 3,800 years ago we see the first migrations of modern Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) into Serrona. These people were highly sea-faring, unlike the numerous peoples that inhabited Serrona prior, and are believed to have migrated from what is modern day Onthukhan. To contrast, over 100,000 years prior when Homo erectus came to Serrona it is believed they came from modern Leifmyrr. These first modern Human settlers in Serrona are often retroactively called the 'Syrokonso ' in scholarly sources; coming from the reconstructed Proto-Lausán language 'Serronan man'. Every single indigenous Human ethnic group in Serrona is directly descended from these initial migrants called the Syrokonso. They quickly inhabited much of Serrona, particularly the regions in the North and closest to their origin in Onthukhan. From here, they diversified into the modern human ethnic groups including - but not limited to - the Mari, Kolssons, Batus, Erikis, Haziki, and the Maharians.

Contemporary subdivisions
The continent is contemporarily divided into two large cultural and geographical regions; Vustada is the region of West Serrona while Lausá is the region of East Serrona; the dividing line is typically considered to be the Eastern coast of the Celestial Sea.