Lenia

The Lenian people are an association of tribes on the planet Teppala. They are typically light-skinned, with blonde hair and blue eyes. However, the tribes using this label most often today are those found in warm climates where dark-skinned people are predominant; Lenians in colder climates prefer to identify themselves as Poswobs or their specific tribal name.

The name Lenian is an exonym, and its original application was to a tribe that no longer usually identifies as such, as the original Lenian tribe has intermarried so much with outsiders that it no longer maintains a single identity. The name was popularized during an early war against Laba in an attempt to get all of the blonde tribes on the same side in the war. However, the attempt failed, with more Lenians helping Laba than fighting Laba.

Language

The Lenians historically spoke languages of the Fojy branch, but in modern times some have adopted the languages of surrounding tribes. The vast majority of the populations of Tata and Dreamland are of Lenian ancestry as well, but have broken away from the tribes to the west and identify with their nation and its political structure rather than their tribal identity.

Demographics

The original Lenians were light-skinned people with blonde hair and blue eyes. They were of medium stature and thin build. Thus they shared their coloration and overall body size with the Pabap people. Unlike the Pabaps, however, the Lenians of Fojy were warm-adapted people with slow metabolisms. Thus, they were well-suited to their tropical habitats so long as they moderated their exposure to the sun by wearing protective clothes and staying in shaded areas during the hot parts of the day.

Modern-day Lenians still fit this description very well, but they have intermarried with dark-skinned tribes and therefore have adopted these foreign characteristics at low frequencies. The facial shape is the greatest difference between the Lenians and the Baeban tribes to their south and east; while skin color can change with sun exposure, facial features are the same from day to day. Skin color is lightest in the southwest, where the sun is at its brightest, and darkest in the northeast as the climate becomes cooler. This is because few dark-skinned people were interested in settling the deserts of the far southwest, and intertribal contact has been rare for their entire history. A similar maladaptive skin color gradation is seen in Pusapom, with the darkest Poswobs living precisely where their skin color is least useful.