Pelinese people (Pacifica)
ペリナイ人 Пелинцы | |
|---|---|
 Flag of the Kingdom of Pelinai | |
| Total population | |
| C. 137 million (2023) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Pelinai | C. 137 million |
| Languages | |
| Pelinese (primary) Loshkarian, Samaric, Sevarian, Stelossian, Yukisoran (regional) | |
| Religion | |
| Pelinayaka Orthodox Christinanity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Reizeners | |
The Pelinese People (Pelinese: ペリナイ人) are a primarily Hinomotan ethnic group and nation residing in the region of Milayakh in southeastern Bailtem. They are defined by a common history, language, and culture, as well as a national homeland in the Kingdom of Pelinai.
There are approximately 137 million Pelinese people today, the majority of which live in their associated nation-state of the Kingdom of Pelinai. A multitude of exiled communities formed abroad in nations such as Weisserstein after the February Revolution and during the Pelinese Civil War; right of return laws enacted in Pelinai post-war have facilitated the resorption of most of the Pelinese diaspora, but some notable populations continue to exist abroad.
The modern Pelinese ethnicity is descended from a number of disparate ethnicities and cultures inhabiting the eastern Milayakh region, such as the Loshkarians, the Samarahi, the Sevarians, the Stelossians, and the Yukisorans, as well as Reizener adherents of Pelinayaka Orthodox Christianity that migrated east in the late eighteenth century AD. Centuries of intermarriage and other interactions have facilitated the creation of a broadly homogenized ethnicity within Pelinai itself, but the Pelinese nation continues to show a degree of regional variation that matches former historical separations.
Because of the diverse ancestral composition of the modern Pelinese nation, the status of being ethnically Pelinese is largely based on cultural and religious factors rather than parentage; cultural adaptation, knowledge of the Pelinese language, and self-identification as being Pelinese over other ethnicities are the most commonly used criteria in national statistics surveys, while other demographic studies may also include adherence to Pelinayaka Christianity.
Languages
The primary language and operating common language of the Pelinese people is Pelinese Hinomoto, a highly modified dialect of Reizener Hinomoto that incorporates much of its vocabulary and phonemes from other geographically neighboring languages. A number of these other languages are also closely associated with Pelinese culture due to their being inherited from its constituent regions; these include Loshkarian, Samaric, Sevarian, Stelossian, and Yukisoran.