Chirams

Chirams is a term used in world-building and speculative ethnography to describe a fictional ethnolinguistic group. In most treatments, the Chirams are imagined as inhabitants of the eastern uplands and river valleys of the continent of Nareth during the late medieval to early modern era.

The name appears in various sources as Chirams, with ethnonyms including the Chiram-speaking communities. In some traditions the endonym is believed to derive from a legendary founder named Chira, while exonyms used by neighboring groups vary.

Socially, Chirams are depicted as small, clan-based communities that engaged in metalworking, copper smelting, and bead production. They maintained trade links with adjacent polities, exchanging metals and glass beads for agricultural produce and textiles. Ceremonies centered on ancestor veneration and seasonal cycles.

The Chiram language is described as a member of the hypothetical Trans-Darbic family by some scholars, but the attested material is sparse and disputed, leaving much of the grammar and vocabulary uncertain.

Archaeology and history show finds of metalworking debris, bead workshops, and settlement mounds. Written references from neighboring groups range from the 12th to the 16th centuries, but direct contemporary records are scarce, and the group's extent and eventual fate are matters of conjecture within fictional or speculative contexts.