Estro

Estro (Banlieueregis Estro), is a Province of the Imperium of Caphiria located north of Venceia in the Urlazian Sea. It sits in between the Caphirian mainland and the island Urlazio and is the third-largest island in the Sea of Canete, after Urlazio and Crotona. Estro consists of two islands: Magnus Estro (Great Estro) and Pavos Estro (Little Estro).

With a population of only 1.5 million, Estro is the 2nd-smallest province by population. Its capital, Valentia, is a major tourist destination and hub for international travel.

Etymology
In ancient Caphiric mythology, Estro was a god sent from the heavens to rule the island of Estro, which served as a sort of purgatory for those who the gods had not yet received or judged. Estro was known to be a fair and unconcerned god, letting his subjects live hedonistic and passionate lives until their judgement was decided.

History
A prehistoric megalithic temple on Alciani, Magnus Estro

Estro is one of the most geologically ancient bodies of land in Sarpedon, with both islands being populated in various waves of immigration from prehistory until recent times.

The Adonerii civilization dominated the area from as early as the 14th Century BC, building villages around a kind of round tower-fortress called Arxi. These towers were often reinforced and enlarged with battlements. Tribal boundaries were guarded by smaller lookout Arxi erected on strategic hills commanding a view of other territories. While initially these Arxi were relatively simple structures, with time they became extremely complex and monumental and the scale, complexity and territorial spread of these buildings attest to the level of wealth accumulated by the Adonerii.

At the time, Estro was at the center of several commercial routes and it was an important provider of raw materials such as copper and lead, which were pivotal for the manufacture of the time. By controlling the extraction of these raw materials and by commercing them with other countries, the ancient Adonerii were able to accumulate wealth and reach a level of sophistication that is not only reflected in the complexity of its surviving buildings, but also in its artworks.

One of the intricate megalithic gallery graves made by the Adonerii. Found in Castevium, Magnus Estro Around the 9th century BC the Proto-Latin people began to grow in influence. These people began visiting Estro with increasing frequency, presumably initially needing safe overnight and all-weather anchorages along their trade routes. In the 6th century BC, after Adonerum had fallen and the Latins were the dominant civilization, they planned to annex Estro but failed several times. Eventually, the Latins gave up and continued north to Urlazio where they had greater success. As a result of this, the inhabitants of Estro were still ethnically Adonerii but became engulfed in Latin culture and tradition which created a fusion of the two cultures. Contact between the island, which the Latins called "Escalia" and the Latins was limited until the 1st century BC.

The Latin and subsequently Caphirian town of Kores. In the 1st century BC, the Caphirian Republic was a little more than a century into its vast conquest and territorial expansion. Commonesius Valianus was a young and ambitious Caphirian looking to make a name for himself to jump start his political career. The general consensus of Estro at this time was overwhelmingly negative; the citizens of Caphiria viewed the inhabitants as barbarians and they regarded both the islands and their people as backward and unhealthy, in all likelihood due to the long-standing presence of malaria. A 2000 study has in fact demonstrated that malaria was already endemic to Estro over 2000 years ago. Growing up however, Valianus had been told stories of the untold riches and awe-inspiring vistas that existed on the islands. He decided that that would how he would make his mark upon history, becoming the first man in the Republic to travel to Estro and return with a first-hand account.

The Caphirian public bathhouse of Escedivus, Estro Parvos After taking out a massive loan to fund his operation, he set sail for Parvos Estro and arrived on the port town of Kores in 190 BC. By this point, the evolution of the inhabitants of Estro was interesting. They had built many coastal settlements and had reached a high level of cultural complexity, building large federal sanctuaries, where the Nuragic communities gathered to participate in the same rituals during festivities. The most interesting part was the fact that they spoke the Latin language as well. Valianus was shocked and impressed by their unique culture which seemed to blend elements of commentary Caphirian, ancient Latin, and ancient Adonerii into one distinct culture.

Valianus was welcomed and treated like a guest of honor in Kores and would spend the next decade of his life living and traveling across Estro. When he returned to Venceia in 180 BC, he returned with precious metals and artwork and riches. He even spoke their local language. He ran for office the following year and was elected to senatorship in 179, spending the next two years developing the next phase of his plan to gain glory. This plan involved conquering both islands of Estro as well as the island of Urlazio but doing so in a way that let them remain independent with some autonomy as a civitas foederata (allied state). The plan was met with universal praise and the bill was passed unanimously, though the concept of autonomy was quickly dropped as Estro and Urlazio were eventually fully absorbed into Caphiria decades later. At its height, Kores was the biggest city in the entire province, reaching a population of 60,000 inhabitants.

Escalians wearing traditional clothing, 1880s.

Even after the annexation of Estro, the Caphirians were not able to fully culturally assimilate the inhabitants of Estro: They spoke Latin but did not identify as such; they recognized that they were subjects of Caphiria but did not call themselves Caphirian. They self-identified as Escalian. Centuries later, they would give in slightly and self-identify as Latins.Today, the virtually all of the inhabitants of Estro are ethnically Caphiric, though the unique regional culture is still as pervasive as it was in antiquity. This, along with with a diversified economy focused on tourism and the tertiary sector and variety of its ecosystems have made Estro into a tourist haven.

Geography
Estro is the third-largest island in the Sea of Canete, after Urlazio and Crotona. Estro consists of two islands: Magnus Estro (Great Estro) and Parvos Estro (Little Estro).

The north-west side of Ochivigium Beach, Parvos Estro The coasts of Estro are generally high and rocky, with long, relatively straight stretches of coastline, many outstanding headlands, a few wide, deep bays, rias, many inlets and with various smaller islands off the coast. The islands have an ancient geoformation and, unlike Urlazio and mainland Caphiria, is not earthquake-prone. Its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era (up to 500 million years old). Due to long erosion processes, the island's highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte, basalt, sandstone and dolomite limestone, average at between 300 to 1,000 metres (984 to 3,281 feet). The highest peak is Mount Alenei (1,834 m (6,017 ft)).

The island's ranges and plateaux are separated by wide alluvial valleys and flatlands, the main ones being the Akiscas in the southwest between Winira and Astio and the Carivis in the northwest.

Estro has few major rivers, the largest being the Avior 151 km (94 mi) long, which flows into the Urlazian Sea.

Lake Milameras, Magnus Estro The climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation. It can be classified in two different macrobioclimates (Mediterranean pluviseasonal oceanic and Temperate oceanic), one macrobioclimatic variant, called Submediterranean, and four classes of continentality (from weak semihyperoceanic to weak semicontinental), eight thermotypic horizons (from lower thermomediterranean to upper supratemperate) and seven ombrotypic horizons (from lower dry to lower hyperhumid), resulting in a combination of 43 different isobioclimates.

Rainfall has a Mediterranean distribution all over the island, with almost totally rainless summers and wet autumns, winters and springs. However, in summer, the rare rainfalls can be characterized by short but severe thunderstorms, which can cause flash floods. Erys being relatively large and hilly, weather is not uniform; in particular the East is drier, but paradoxically it suffers the worst rainstorms: in autumn 2000, it rained more than 200 mm (7.9 in) in a single day on Pavos Estro, and 2020, locations in Estro were reported to have received more than 431 mm (17 inches) within two hours.

Administrative divisions
Estro is divided into three regions and 6 cities and the capital is Alciani. Its Praetor, Maccus Apellius, was elected in 2020 and is in his third term.

Economy
Historically, the economic conditions of Estro have been among the lowest in the Imperium due to the high costs of the transportation of goods and electricity, which was twice that of the continental provinces. Improvements in infrastructure such as building out the Estro Magnus submarine power cable in 1997, creating a small-scale LNG terminal and a 404-km gas pipeline have helped to decrease the high cost of the electric power in the island.

Today, the economy of Estro is one of the highest in the Imperium since 2015 when legislation was passed to make Estro an effective tax haven, being free by custom duties, vat and excise taxes on fuel. This was taken even further in 2020 when more legislation was created for business-friendly corporation laws. This led to an influx of publicly traded companies choosing to incorporate and move their base of operations to Estro.

The largest industries of the economy as of 2035 are: Other economic activities related to services (29.7%); Financial activity and real estate (26.7%); Commerce, hotels and restaurants, transport, services and communications (25.4%); Construction (5.7%); Industry (9.4%) and Agriculture, farming, fishing (3%).

The once prosperous mining industry is still active though restricted to coal, antimony, gold, bauxite, lead and zinc. The granite extraction represents one of the most flourishing industries in the northern part of the province. Principal industries are chemicals, petrochemicals, metalworking, cement, pharmaceutical, shipbuilding, rail, and food. Plans related to industrial conversion are in progress in the main industrial sites, like in Alciani, where seven research centers are developing the transformation from traditional fossil fuel related industry to an integrated production chain from vegetable oil using oleaginous seeds to bio-plastics.

The Estroi economy is today focused on the overdeveloped tertiary sector (67.8% of employment), with commerce, services, information technology, public administration and especially on tourism (mainly seaside tourism), which represents the main industry of the province with 2,721 active companies. Due to its isolated and insular location, Estro focused part of its economy on the development of digital technologies since the dawn of internet era: the first (non-governmental) Caphiric website, one of the first webmail systems and one of the first and largest internet providers (Crisi Online) were realized by the Center for Advanced Studies, Research and Development in Estro (C4E).

Airports
Estro has one international airport in Escalia and two regional airports, one in Valentia and Alciani. Internal air connections between Erxi airports are limited to a daily Escalia-Valentia flight. Estroi citizens benefit from special sales on plane tickets, and several low-cost air companies operate on the island.

Seaports
There are 6 ferry companies that link eight seaports inside of Estro to other seaports across Caphiria and Levantia. A regional ferry company links Magnus Estro and Parvos Estro to Castra Osaniovo. About 40 tourist harbors are located along the Estroi coasts.

Roads and rail
Estro is the only Caphirian province without an extensive Inter-Banlieueregian Highway System (IBHS) like other provinces but the road network is well developed with a system of no-toll roads with dual carriageway that connect the principal towns and the main airports and seaports; the speed limit is 150kmh. A work in progress is converting the main routes to highway standards, with the elimination of all intersections. The secondary inland and mountain roads are generally narrow with many hairpin turns, so the speed limits are very low.

Estro does benefit from the Imperium's Portantia Network, Caphiria's extensive public transit system that provides travel on underground and light rails in cities and buses in towns and villages, as well as access to high-speed maglev trains.

although it does benefit from the Portantia Network, Caphiria's extensive public transit system.

Demographics
With a population of 5,949,640, Estro is one of the most densely populated island in the world. In the recent past the population distribution was anomalous compared to that of other Latin regions lying on the sea. In fact, contrary to the general trend, most urban settlement has not taken place primarily along the coast but in the sub-coastal areas and towards the center of the islands. Historical reasons for this include repeated raids, widespread pastoral activities inland, and the swampy nature of the coastal plains (reclaimed definitively only in the 20th century). The situation has been reversed with the expansion of seaside tourism; today all Estro's major urban centers are located near the coasts.

Estro has the highest total fertility rate (3.087 births per woman) in Caphiria and ranks among the highest in Sarpedon. Average life expectancy is slightly over 82 years (85 for women and 79.7 for men) and has one of the highest rate of centenarians in the world (15 centenarians/100,000 inhabitants). Estro is the first discovered Blue Zone, a demographic and/or geographic area in the world with an oversize concentration of centenarians and supercentenarians.

Culture
Estro is the only Caphirian province to have its own set of constitutional statutes, themost notable of which uses the term popolo (distinct people) to refer to its inhabitants. Such a term is not meant to imply any legal difference between Estroi and other citizens of the Caphiria but to offer a cultural (and historically ethnic) delineation.

Architecture
The holy well at the Nometsi site in Corottello The entrance of the Impediosus Cathedral Of the prehistoric architecture in Estro there are numerous testimonies such as the megalithic circles, the menhirs, the dolmens and the well temples; however, the element that more than any other characterizes the Erxi prehistoric landscape are the Arxi. The remains of hundreds of these Bronze Age buildings of various types (simple and complex) are still visible today.

The Latins gave a new administrative structure to the whole island through the restructuring of several cities, the creation of new centers and the construction of many infrastructures of which the ruins remain, such as the palace of Domadmovem in Castevium or the Caphirian Amphitheatre of Lux Norbia. Even from the early Christian epoch there are several testimonies throughout the territory both on the coasts and inside, especially linked to buildings of worship.

The crypts beneath the Domadmovem in Castevium A particular development had Latinic architecture during the 11th century. Various high priests through substantial donations, had favored the arrival to the island of monks of different orders from various regions of Levantia and Caphiria. These circumstances favored in turn the arrival to the island of artists from those same regions and gave rise to unprecedented artistic manifestations, marked by the fusion of these experiences. The cornerstone in the evolution of Latinic architecture is the Impediosus, the largest cathedral built during this time.

Renaissance architecture, although poorly represented, includes notable examples such as the installation of the cathedral of Ipsia (late Gothic but with a strong Renaissance influence). Starting from the nineteenth century, new architectural forms of neoclassical inspiration spread throughout the island. Among the most important figures of this architectural and urban phase is that of the architect from Valentia, Khallal Serivar, whose works are scattered throughout the islands.

An interesting realization of eclectic style, derived from the union between revivalist and Art Nouveau models, appears to be the City hall of Escalia, completed in the early twentieth century.

Traditional clothing
Traditional children's clothing from Castevium Colourful and of various and original forms, the Estroi traditional clothes are a clear symbol of belonging to specific collective identities. Although the basic model is homogeneous and common throughout the island, each town or village has its own traditional clothing which differentiates it from the others.

Music
Estro is home to one of the oldest forms of vocal polyphony, traditionally known as caliquerior. Several famous musicians have found it irresistible and have interpolated it. The guttural sounds produced by caliquerior make a remarkable sound, similar to throat singing.

A group of undamnia players Another unique instrument is the undamnia. Three reed-canes (two of them glued together with beeswax) produce distinctive harmonies, which have their roots many thousands of years ago, as demonstrated by the bronze statuettes from Alciani, of a man playing the three reed canes, dated to 2000 BC.

Estroi culture is alive and well, and young people are actively involved in their own music and dancing. The main opera houses of the island are the Univense and Obtingulus, located in Escalia and Valentia respectively.

Cuisine
A range of different cakes, pastries, meals, dishes and sweets which are common elements of the cuisine of Estro Meat, dairy products, grains and vegetables constitute the most basic elements of the traditional diet, to a lesser extent rock lobster (aligusta), scampi, bottarga (butàriga), squid, tuna.

Suckling pig (porcheddu) and wild boar (sirbone) are roasted on the spit or boiled in stews of beans and vegetables, thickened with bread. Herbs such as mint and myrtle are used. Much Estroi bread is made dry, which keeps longer than high-moisture breads. Those are baked as well, including civraxiu, coccoi pintau, a highly decorative bread and pistoccu made with flour and water only, originally meant for herders, but often served at home with tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic and a strong cheese.

Traditional cheeses include pecorino sardo, pecorino romano, casizolu, ricotta and the casu marzu (notable for containing live insect larvae).

Beer produced in Estro One of the most famous of foods is pane carasau, the flat bread of Estro, famous for its thin crunchiness. Originally the making of this bread was a hard process which needed three women to do the job. This flat bread is always made by hand as it gives a different flavor the more you work the dough. After working the dough it will be rolled out in very thin circles and placed in an extremely hot stone oven where the dough will blow up into a ball shape. Once the dough achieves that state it is then removed from the oven where it is then cut into two thin sheets and stacked to go back into the oven.

Beer is the most drunk alcoholic beverage, Estro boasts the highest consumption per capita of beer in Caphiria (twice higher than national average).