Duntrekker people

Duntrekkers are an ethnic group of Dundorfian descent, inhabiting various areas of Artania, Seleya,and Majatra. They are known for their deep religious faith, simple lifestyle and skills of settlement anc colonization. The Duntrekkers left Dundorf for other parts of Terra in the 1600-1700s, for a variety of reasons and remain a distinctive ethnic group to this day.

History
The history of Duntrekkers began in 1519 when merchant-turned-Minister Gert van Tassel (Dundorfe: von Tossel) returned from an eight-year business assignment in Luthori where he had been exposed to, and converted to, Calvinist Protestantism.

Origin
Van Tassel and his family settled in the small village of Treptow, Dunlake and began seeking converts to the new faith. It was among the small shopowners and independent farmers of the area where Van Tassel gained his first converts which allowed him to collect enough funds to construct the first Reformed Church and first Calvinist community in Dundorf in 1523.

Persecution
This initial small community spread to three neighboring villages (Gnößen,Wurtburg, Vern) and soon numbered about 16,000. This influx in numbers brought the community to the attention of the Catholic Church and the landed gentry. These two groups joined forces to crush Van Tassel's movement through persecution, intimidation and exclusion. Often, Catholic clergy would rally nobles and peasants alike to banish suspected Calvinist converts from villages and farms; effectively casting them into the wilderness by cutting them from all familial and social ties.

Soon, the converts began to form themselves into small theocratic communities for mutual aid and protection; creating newer and stronger familial and social ties in the meantime.

Dunners
It was within these small and excluded communities where the term Dunners was coined for the first time. Its origins are unclear but it is believed to have been coined by members of the converted merchant community to describe themselves to "foreigners" (at the time, people of the different länder of modern Dundorf were considered foreigners to each other) based upon their geographical location in Dunlake rather than religion due to the fear of bodily and monetary harm in a foreign land.

The term was eventually hijacked by the Catholic Church and other groups as a label to differentiate between the Catholic "us" and the Calvinist "them". It seems the Dunners themselves turned the phrase around and began using it as a symbol of pride and religious conviction.

Advancement
In 1530, King Gerhard I issued the Protestierende Gesetze (Protestant Laws) of 1530 which compelled nobles and the Catholic Church to tolerate Dunner existence while forbidding the further conversion of Catholics to Calvinism.

With the insistance of the Catholic Church further stricter laws were soon implemented "encouraging" (often with force) Dunner resettlement to specified areas within Dunlake. At the time, a quite substantial number estimated at 30,000 peasants, freeholders, and low noblemen and their families were resettled. Due to this near totaly isolation, a new language, classified as Duntrekaans, formed amongst this group and a totally separate set of political and religious beliefs developed.

Pogroms
Legal protection for the Dunners ended with the election of King Harold I and directly led to the "Great Pogrom of 1537". While violence and murder against individual Dunners was not uncommon 1537 saw the first major attack on a Dunner community since its inception nearly two decades earlier.

On Easter Sunday 1537 a mob of Catholic peasants, inspired by their Catholic clergy's sermons of rumored ritual murder and sexual pervesion, marched to Wurtburg in the heart of the Dunner resettlement area. The mob quickly looted and sacked the town before chasing the townspeople to the nearby village of Tasselburg. There, the mob brutally tortured and murdered 24 Dunner men and raped over a dozen Dunner women before violently destroying the lone church, slaughtering its livestock and torching the village including its nearby grain fields and orchards.

Many smaller pogroms and isolated acts of violence continued throughout the sixteenth century but became less and less common as more of the peasantry converted. By 1610, almost half of the peasantry of Dundorf classified themselves as Reformed Protestant. The new Calvinism of the regular peasantry was not considered the same as that practiced by the Dunners, however.

The new Calvinism sweeping through the kingdom was brought from abroad through various ministers and was classified as more a universal and "friendly" faith than the Dunner denomination. Theologists point to the period of persecution, exclusion, and isolation of the Dunners as culprits in their rather dark and wrathful interpretation of God and religious scripture. It was because of this adherrence to isolation and forboding scriptural interpretation that contributed to the continued discrimination and alienation of the Dunners despite the enormous growth of Protestantism in Dundorf.

The Groote Duntrek
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the younger generations of Dunners grew wary of the political and economic restrictions still in place upon them. These generations were supported in their efforts by like-minded ministers who preached Dunner exceptionalism and the apparent Dunner covenant with God to create a religious "city on a hill" free from outside influences.

Modern scholars have termed this "Dunner nationalism", "Dunner manifest destinty", or the "Dunner Covenant". They have also cited, howver, the overpopulation of the Dunner areas in Dunlake and the need to stem the waiting demographic disaster.

Soon, brave young Dunner families left their homeland and ventured into Terra on their people's "Exodus" in search of their respective "Canaan" for which God had promised them in their Covenant; the very land where they were to build their "New Jerusalem" upon a hill. In 1790, Reverend Piet van Merwerzuider led the largest of these "treks" bringing with him nearly 250 families totally around 6,000 people.

In what became known as the Groote Duntrek, the newly-dubbed Duntrekkers departed Artania via Rutania, Aloria, or Kirlawa and sailed to various locations across Terra; notably Saridan, Likatonia, Pontesi, and Malivia. In those nations - many of which were sparsely populated and lacked real governments - they could build new pious and wealthy lives as rural farmers or ranchers.

The term "Duntrekker" soon became synonymous with anyone directly associated with the community. The old term "Dunner" was almost forgotten, even in Dundorf, but is still often used by Duntrekkers abroad to distinguish those who stayed behind to themselves.

Duntrekkers Abroad
The Duntrekkers settled in their new homelands forming isolated, small, tightly-knit farming communities. These settlers were staunchly religious, worshipping the very wrathful God they had left behind in Dundorf.

Duntrekker attempts at converting the indigenous peoples of their new homelands brought little success and most Duntrekker communities agreed to abandon such efforts and focus instead on preserving their culture through isolation.

As Dundorf was uninterested in the affairs of overseas refugees, and the poor state of communications made continued contact with the old Dunner communities in Dunlake, the Duntrekker began to develop distinct cultures based upon their adopted homelands. As a result, the many different dialects of Duntrekaans and the different traditions of the Duntrekker communities took shape, forming the distinct and yet diverse culture.

Conflicts
In most places, Duntrekker communities abroad lived in relative peace. However, during the late 1800s there were problems in many of their adopted homelands. Around the turn of the century, several nations hosting the "Trekkers" engaged in small-scale warfare in hopes of re-requiring their lost lands. In many areas, the Duntrekkers were under constant siege, which greatly influenced their political, religious and cultural mindsets.

The Duntrekker Guerilla
As Duntrekker communities were small and sporadic they had to rely on themselves for their own defense. The typical

Some of these conflicts were successful for the Trekkers, though many were failures (the colonists were skilled guerrilla fighters and knew the land well). Chief among these conflicts was the Trek War in Malivia. A group of Duntrekkers fought a sporadic guerrilla conflict against the Malivian government from 1886-1899.

They have remained in many of these nations today, still living self-sufficiently on small community farms. They retain their conservative religious beliefs to this day, practicing strict Calvinism and Protestantism.

Culture
As mentioned earlier, the Duntrekkers are staunchly religious Protestants. Many practice beliefs unpopular in their ethnic homeland; this contributed to their exodus in the first place. They try not to associate themselves with outsiders too much, but often attempt to spread their beliefs as missionaries. No Trekker village is without at least one church.

The Trekkers are skilled farmers, especialy regarding livestock. They raise all kinds of animals, depending on their homeland. Cattle, sheep, pigs, and even poultry are raised in their farms. Some grow crops, but this is a rarity among most settlements.

They dress in very simple clothing. Men wear wide-brimmed hats and neutral-colored jackets, usually made by their wives or sisters. They usually wear thick boots and long trousers. Almost all possess thick beards. Women dress conservatively, preferring old-fashioned hoop skirts and simple dresses to modern styles.

Trekkers are often extremely racist by nature, and this has earned them disdain in many of their home countries. They often try to distance themselves from locals, preferring to maintain their own culture while giving little trust to their hosts.

Language
Duntrekkers speak a totally unique language, combining Dunlake accents and dialets with local phrases and words. This language, called Duntrekaans, is easily recognizable. Each national group of Trekkers has their own dialects, however, and it is one of the most difficult languages to learn in Terra for this reason.

Names
Several extended families make up much of the Trekker population, though numerous smaller ones exist as well. Family names often begin with Van or Van Der (meaning 'from'). A place-name, often located in northern Dundorf, will follow. Some families changed their names to suit their new homes. Some of the best-known last names are:


 * Van Tassel
 * Van Der Grootfontein
 * Bezuidenhout
 * Von Dungrau
 * Groetelzuiderhein
 * Mernderwar
 * Weisserderrand