Lorebook: Pahqruun and Pahmsruun

The Pahqruun/Pahmsruun ("popular folk") are a form of People relating relatively closely to the Original Folk. It is believed that they originate from the Ruktruun, but split off from them many centuries ago (depending on who is asked). Unlike the Ruktruun clans, they believed they needed to welcome in order to reconcile all groups outside of their own. Unable to do so there, in droves their ancestors set sail on the river that flows down from Mount Taurikip and followed it all the way down to the sea, colonizing the lands along the way as well as founding a capital in the New World, Great Laurikin.

Both terms with the same meaning, at some point, the terms Pahqruun and the Pahmsruun began to refer to two different sets of People of the same form. While both are known for their historic diplomacy and integrations with other cultures, the Pahqruun are incredibly diverse physically and culturally, with their identities tending to be tied much more to their culture or historical homelands than to their being Pahqruun, while the Pahmsruun maintain a core shared identity, institutions, and generally physical features (continuing to appear more similar to the Ruktruun). Mostly-friendly disputes continuing to today regarding which set diverged from the other. Certain Pahqruun hold their particular group's existence in Karamay as predating and completely independent of the sailing from Mount Taurikip. Other than the difference in diversity and culture, they are the same form of People and thus for many other People the less heterogeneous Pahmsruun are simply seen as a subset of Pahqruun, regardless of which diverged from which.

The Pahqruun

The Pahqruun are arguably the most diverse set of People in Karamay (other than the similarly diverse Teakani). Their identities tend to be tied much more to their culture or historical homelands than to their being Pahqruun.

The Pahmsruun

Though they are known for being more apt to mixing with other People groups (both through simple social integration and through marital mixing), the Pahmsruun are known for maintaining a sense of uniquely Pahmsruun pride and culture regardless, strengthened by the continuing prestige of the Original Families, the Pahmsruun Institutions, and the relatively strong likelihood of their appearance traits passing on. They are not monolithic, but are less physically heterogeneous than the Pahqruun. Some Pahmsruun see themselves as simply one subset of the ancestors that ended up "sticking together", while others see the Pahqruun as a group that splintered off contrary to the ancestors' intentions.

Despite being spread out over the world, most Pahmsruun hold a common culture in many ways due to various structures uniting them across space and time, like Great Laurikin and the Pahms Trading Company. Great Laurikin is renowned for its access to the rest of 'the world', due to both Pahmsruun folk's desire to return home at their whimsy and their desire to educate and get to know the rest of the world. Laurikin holds many of the world’s most powerful shipping networks and has trips out from it through various means of transportation.