Ibykia

The Government-General of Ibykia is a Kiravian possession located in continental West Ixnay, between Pelaxia and Urcean Dormanshire.

History
Like much of West Ixnay, the area now encompassed by the Province of Ibycia bore witness to a long and varied procession of different peoples, states, and empires. Native Ibycian historiography places the country’s origins in the 7th century anno Domini with the arrival of the Taormines, a, people with connexions to Constantinople and the Greek provinces of the Latin Empire.

In the 21st century anno Domini, Ibycia was conquered by the Eörlingans, who established their seat of power in Rhégium (renamed New Regeris) and went on to annex neighbouring Dormanshire. Shortly after the Eörlingans became established in the area, their empire descended into a ruinous civil war. The Kiravian Federacy intervened on the behalf of the established Imperial government and came to occupy large areas of the country, while the hinterlands of the Rhégian Coast with large Pelaxian populations were absorbed into the Pelaxian state. The vast majority of the civil war was fought in Ibycia, resulting in extensive infrastructural damage, internal displacement, and loss of life.

The mutual destruction of the Imperial remnant and the Rougad left the former Eörlingan Empire without any functioning indigenous political structure, and the occupied territories were formally annexed into the Kiravian Federacy by order of Prime Executive Andrus Candrin as the Intendancy of Regeria and the Sakhalins. In 21209, the two territories were separated and the Sakhalins were admitted to the Federacy as a colony. Kiravian Regeria became a Presidency (Anosaluârcat) and reverted to its historical name, Ibykia.

Politics
Ibykia is administered by the Government-General of Ibykia, an agency of the Kiravian Federacy. Executive power is vested in a Governor-General appointed to a renewable two-year term by the Kiravian Prime Executive. There is no legislature, and all laws for the province are passed by the Federal Stanora in Kartika.

The province does, however, maintain a Representative Assembly, a purely deliberative elected body that voices local concerns, advises the Governor-General, maintains contact with the Stanora, and passes nonbinding resolutions. Members of the Representative Assembly are elected annually and at-large by proportional representation. All legal permanent residents of Ibykia may vote in RA elections, regardless of whether they hold Kiravian citizenship.

A number of political parties are active in Ibykia and contest elections for the RA and the partisan municipal councils of Rhégium and Thiknota.

The Taormine National Party is a nationalist and Christian democratic party that seeks to have Ibykia recognised as the home of the home of the Taormine people and to publically promote Taromine culture and national identity. It does not seek independence from the Kiravian Federacy, preferring commonwealth status or admission as a highly-autonomous state. It calls for the accelerated establishment of a local republican government as guaranteed to all Kiravian states by the Fundamental statute in the long-term. Its near-term goals include the recognition of Ibikho as co-official with Kiravic, reaching an agreement with Kartika on quotas for Cosco-Kiravian immigration to Ibykia, and the establishment of an Ibykian Provincial Guard. It has a consultative relationship with the subnationalist Kiravia of Regions caucus. Its strongest support comes from ethnic Taormines in urban areas, but enjoys considerable support in the countryside as well.

The New Democratic Party is a Christian democratic party that seeks the establishment of a non-sovereign republic and to ensure that economic recovery and development programs benefit families and small businesses in accordance with distributist principles. It seeks public funding for schools operated by the Greek Catholic Church and the establishment of a public healthcare system. It is primarily supported by rural and semi-rural Taormines, but counts Coscivian colonists among its leadership and voter base. It has consultative status with the Caritist Social Union.

The Coalition for the Century is a pro-Kiravian party that takes a strong stance in favour of a capitalist direction for economic development aided by Kiravian trade, investment, and subsidies. The CfC advocates closer integration with the Federacy, and eventually seeks admission as a state with a level of self-governance either on par with most Kiravian colonies (supported by Kiravian settlers) or as a commonwealth with greater autonomy (supported by Taormines). It is supported by the Taormine urban middle and upper classes, as well as by most urban Kiravians, and has observer status at Shaftonist-Republican Alliance coordinating conferences.

The Ibykian Islamic Party is a moderate conservative party organised by Shia Arabs (Quazuarian, Absurranian, and Phoenician alike) that focuses on issues affecting the Arab community within the existing and evolving Ibykian political context. It has a working relationship with the Caucus of Justice.

The Islamic Action Front is a more radical Islamic-interest party supported by Quazuarian refugees, with a platform of Shia Islamism and Quazuarian nationalism that supports the establishment of a New Quazuarian autonomous zone or independent state on the eastern borderlands of Ibykia. Despite its desire for an autonomous the New Quazuaria, the party is pro-Kiravian and has a relatively extensive non-legislative wing that acts as an and lobbies the Stanora on behalf of the Quazuarian national cause and Ixnayan Shia issues in general. Though not closely linked to any Federal caucus, it has the most contact with Caucus of Justice politicians.

The Olmoni Solidarity Party represents the interests of the Olmoni refugee community. It is formally a Christian democratic party, but given the prevailing Christian democratic political climate in Ibykia, it is defined mainly by its advocacy for Olmoni immigrants and its support for the Olmoni government-in-exile in Férapelan. The OSP has a working relationship with the Caucus of Justice.

Economy
Ibykia has historically been an agrarian country, but underwent rapid industrialisation under Eörlingian rule. The Eörlingian civil war destroyed nearly all of Ibykia's manufacturing and transport infrastructure, and present-day Ibykia is dependent on Kiravian grants and development funds for economic sustenance. Efforts are currently underway to improve the efficiency of the Ibykian agricultural sector in order to satisfy Kiravian demand for agricultural products. Programs are in place to reconstruct the infrastructure necessary for industries such as food and beverage processing, bauxite mining, scrap metal refinement, and light manufacturing to flourish.

Demographics and Culture
The ethnic makeup of Ibycia is 46% Taormine, 35% Coscivian, 7% Quazuarian Arab, 5% Olmoni, 3% Dorman, and 4% others including Pelians, Absurranian Arabs, Phoenician Melkites, and Phoenician Nidsaris.

Taormines are a Mediterranean people with Greek and Italic ancestry. Though historically, they are now almost exclusively members of the Greek Catholic Church of Ibykia. They are extremely religious, with upwards from 60% practicing religious rites on a daily basis, and the majority of Taormine children attend church schools. Taormine culture is high-context, kinship-based and communitarian, with the village and extended family regarded as the formative units of society.The Taormine people speak Ibixo, a creole derived from Romance/Late Latin and successive strata of Ancient, Koiné, and Byzantine Greek. There are three coëxisting orthographies for the language: the Cyrillic script adopted under Eörlingan rule, a modified Latin script incorporating certain Greek letters that was exclusively used until the Eörlingan conquest, and a recently-devised Iatic orthography to facilitate government communication with Taormines using keyboards, software, and fonts designed to write Kiravic. The Cyrillic script is the most widely used today, appearing in handwriting, newspapers and magazines, signage, and business materials, while the Latin script has remained the norm in literature, academic writing, and digital communication. The Iatic script enjoys mostly auxiliary use in government documents and for filling out forms.

The Coscivian population of Ibykia belong to a number of different ethnosocial groups. The Voltinem, northern Peninsular Coscivian subgroups, Kandem, and Erasem have a large presence in the countryside, while Northern Tańrisem, Phrydhiem, Norboriem, and Lærem having the largest concentrations in urban areas.

Because of the special privileges granted to them in Ibykia by Kiravian immigration law, Ibykia is the main destination for emigrants of Quazuarian, Shiá Absurranian, and Olmoni backgrounds from the United Islamic Federation. The first wave of refugees fled Quazuaria during the Ten Day War, while others left later on citing religious and political discrimination. The Shi’a community is very politically active with regard to issues affecting their homeland, and murals depicting Shi’a cleric Ayatollah Khayatini and Kiravian politician Ilham Haydar can be found in most Shi’a neighbourhoods. This community benefits from new mosques and community programs courtesy of the All-Kiravia Shiïte Mosque Fund.

The Olmoni, an Arabic-speaking Christian people, were represented in small numbers among the first wave of Quazuarian refugees, but most arrived in the aftermath of Olmon’s short-lived independence, which was suppressed by Absurranian and Norsjænd military action. They remain predominantly urban and concentrated around Rhégium, though the government has sought to resettle them in agricultural villages further east. Just over half of Olmoni Ibykians are, and just under a third are Catholic, with the remainder being Wesleyan, Bretheren, or Baptist. The Orthodox Lutheran Church of Kiravia and the Kiravian Methodist Church do a great deal to support the Olmoni community, as does the Kiravian government. Rhégium hosts a consulate of the Holy State of Olmon, the Olmoni government-in-exile based in Férapelan, Ventarya.

Small numbers of from North Phoenicia have taken refuge in Ibykia, where they have been received well by the Greek Catholic Taormines. Rhégium is home to a small population of Pelians and Dormans working for Urcean contractors.