Melian Islands

The Melian Archipelagic Territory (Kiravic: Skírēn Meliaèsoxorosk), more commonly known as the Melian Islands, is a of the Kiravian Federacy situated on a group of four islands in the Far Sea of southeastern Ixnay. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Ĥaldun, is split between the Melian Territory and the Wazikistani colony of Ahmezi Isle.

History
The greater Melian Archipelago, which includes not only the present-day Kiravian territory but also the Wazikistani colony of Ahmezi Isle and the North Amerigo colony of Aaron Isle, was the homeland of a great long-lost seafaring civilisation that wielded great commercial and military power in Ixnay for centuries. After the decline of this nameless civilisation, the islands swtiched hands numerous times before eventually falling under the rule of Qyronia.

The Kiravian Federacy acquired the islands following its participation in a Fiannrian-led invasion of Qyronia in 21206. Efforts to bring the islands under permanent Kiravian governance were hampered for a time by a Qyronian Revolutionary Force insurgency that was ultimately defeated by a joint Kiravian, Kuhlfrosian, Absurranian, and Wazikistani counteroffensive. Even before the resistence had been cleared from the territory, Kiravian settlement began on the secure northern island of Ketrya. The city of Thucydia was founded 22 Sávilus 21205, and a number of other settlements were established on Ketrya and Vìor islands by the Colonial Authority and private groups.

Geography
The archipelago has a pleasant climate in the littoral regions, and a cooler climate in the interior uplands. The five major islands are, in descending order of size: Ĥaldun (shared with Wazikistan), Ketrya (home to the capital, Thucydia), Astándra, Dúconia, and Vìor.

Politics
Like most Kiravian territories, the Melian Isles are governed under the council-conference system set out in the Territorial Charter.

The supreme executive organ of the territorial government is the Executive Council. The Executive Council is chaired by the Governor-General and currently comprises fifteen members excluding the Governor-General himself. Seven are gubernatorial appointees, one (the Adjutant-General) is an ex officio member, and the rest are selected by the Auditorium and the Governor-General in consultation. Members of the Executive Council are assigned portfolios by the Governor-General, granting them purview over particular categories of territorial government agencies and state functions. Subordinate agencies are administered by a permanent, nonpolitical corps of civil servants. Most top-level executive decisions are made collectively by the Council, though the Governor-General possesses several powers (mostly related to security and public safety) which he may exercise on his own prerogative. The Governor-General of the Melian Isles is appointed by the Prime Executive of the Kiravian Federacy in consultation with the Auditorium, serving for 30 months at a time.

Legislative power is vested in the unicameral Melian Congress. The Congress is comprises two seats for each of the territory's countyships, both of which are filled by every two years. One seat from each countyship may be contended by both partisan and independent candidates, while the other seat is reserved for independents. Candidates standing for the reserved-independent seats campaign using public funds according to the Báltagren System.

The main political parties in the Melian Isles are the Island Nation Party, the New Republic Party , the Pythagorean People's Party , the Country Credit Party , and the Melosocialist Party (Kirosocialist). A coalition between the INP, NRP, and sympathetic independents currently forms the majority in Congress and controls the legislature's agenda-setting and procedural powers.

Like many other Kiravian island colonies in Ixnay, the Melian Isles typically elect Delegates to the Federal Stanora who sit with the Coscivian National Congress group, largely due to the CNC's strong position on defence issues and its consistent support for subsidies to support the island colonies' economies and governments.

Society & Culture
The Melian Isles are inhabited both by Éorsan Coscivians who have settled on the islands since their annexation by the Kiravian Federacy, and by the native Melotes.

Ethnic Groups
-Melotes have weird Pythagorean/Stoic/Neoplatonist religion. Developed from some indigenous tradition + Greek and Iranic influences from trade. -Melotes now consider themselves Coscivians -Ayyy lmao skeet-skeet mafakkahs

Melotes today consider themselves a part of Coscivian civilisation, the culmination of a trend that began centuries before the islands' annexation by the Kiravian Federacy. Pressures on the Melotes to conform to continental, that is, Ixnayan and Levantine, cultural hegemony and Christian orthodoxy led many Melote scholars, religious leaders, and rulers to look towards Kiravia and Sydona, with their history of religious pluralism and philosophical traditions that bore similarities to the Melian religion, as a counter-hegemonic alternative. The monastic scribe Ataxes of Harambé developed an orthography for the Melotic language based on the Coscivian script in [YEAR], which almost completely displaced the Greek alphabet by [Later YEAR]. The modern literary register of the Melotic language has adopted some morphological features from High Coscivian and a significant quantity of Coscivian loanwords, while the local dialect of Kiravic has, in turn, absorbed a great deal of vocabulary and some phonological features from Melotic.

In Melian society, ethnic background is thought of as correlating closely with altitude: Lower-altitude areas of the archipelago tend to be more heavily Melote, while higher altitudes with a more mild climate are more heavily populated by people of Éorsan Coscivian ancestry. This leads to certain expressions common to the islands such as álivāsdras ōvim ("doing it the up-slope way", referring to an upper-class and mainland Kiravian way of doing something), and the more idiomatic ēmribūvāsdras Kartikad ("just downslope of Kartika", referring to extremely high-altitude regions).

After conquering the archipelago, the Kiravian administration undertook the gradual deportation and scattering of ethnic Qyronians from the island. The 21200 Federal Census counted some 6,920 Qyronians, mostly living on the outskirts of Artisar-Íervisar and Mirśamur. Qyronians do not have Kiravian nationality and live as stateless persons. In 21207, the federal government announced that it would seek a deal to resettle the remaining Qyronian population in Chawaland, an overseas colony of Ganos Lao.

There are also a number of foreigners living on the island, primarily Hekuvians and Kommenorenes. The Melians became a popular destination for Kommenorene political émigrés after [Name of Conflict(s) HERE], many of whom live in stately villas on Ketrya and Dúconia islands. In addition, a significant number of Kommenorenes have come to the islands as guest workers. Hekuvians have long had a presence in the Melians in connexion with trading activities, but the number of Hekuvians swelled significantly during the 21120s construction booms on Ketyra and Astándra, arriving with Hekuvian building contractors and raising awareness of the island's natural beauty and affordable real estate in their homeland.

Culture
The Melian Isles have a rich local culture blending native Melote, Coscivian, Greek, Hekuvian, and Irano-Pashtun influences from its long history as a seaborne trading state.

Residents of the islands have long enjoyed the custom of a nekano (Kiravic: nékanon) or midday nap analogous to the. This ancient custom was happily embraced by Coscivian immigrants as they struggled to adapt to the tropical climate. Most employers in the Melians acommodate the nekano, with the notable exception of the Jade Coast Spaceport.

Drawing on the Melian religion's reverence for mathematics, the territorial school system has established very high standards in the subject, and Melian students typically top Federacy rankings in mathematics on standardised examinations. Melians are also known for their love of, which is the territory's official pastime and taught as a class in public schools. Many of the Federacy's celebrated chess grandmasters, including reigning national champion Daron M.M.S. Ladaxēva.

Éorsan Coscivians in the Melians typically wear a style of clothing that is essentially a lighter version of traditional Coscivian costume mixed with elements of native Melote dress, incorporating light, breathable fabrics, loose-fitting tunics to cool the body while sheltering skin from the equatorial sun, coifs, and sunglasses (even indoors).

Economy
The agricultural sector accounts for a large percentage of the territory's GDP. Most production takes place on medium-sized family-owned estates as specified by the land-grant policy imposed by the Federal Stanora. Melian agriculture measures up to that of the breadbasket states of the Kiravian island continent in efficiency and productivity, aided by advanced mechanisation, biotechnology, and agronomic knowledge. Vegetables, especially lettuce,, peppers, leeks, avocadoes, endives, and beans are leading export crops. A fruit industry is becoming established, with hundreds of hectares in the coastal lowlands being planted with peach and other stonefruit, persimmon, and kiwis. Limited breadfruit production has begun in some areas of the northern islands, and there are several initiatives underway to establish vineyards in the more southerly isles. Coffee production in the Melian Isles provides the territory with its most valuable agricultural export.

A major contributor to the Melian economy is the Jade Coast Spaceport, owned and operated by the Federal Spaceflight Authority. The spaceport is located on a large tract of land in County Seraïkan on the northeast coast of Astándra Island, and includes five launch sites for unmanned rockets and two for reusable manned spacecraft, which take advantage of the archipelago's position close to the equator to minimise the amount of energy required to enter orbit. It is currently the leading Kiravian spaceport for commercial sattelite launches and for manned space missions, especially logistical support for the FSA space station Starfield, though concerns about possible Santherese surveillance have prompted the FSA to move more sensitive launches to other locations. The Jade Coast Spaceport is the largest single employer in the islands after the territorial government, and has drawn many highly-educated, high-income workers to Astándra Island.

More conventional, sub-orbital transportation is also important to the Melian economy. The islands are an important way station between Great Kirav and the Sydona Islands, and between the Sydonas and Kiravian Punth. Melian members of the Federal Stanora have pushed for closer trade relations between the Federacy and Pukhtunkhwa, from which their territory would be geographically well-poised to benefit from.

A tourist industry catering mostly to Levantine visitors and Kiravian hikers and scuba divers is a key source of growth for the service sector, underpinning the economy of numerous coastal communities located near well-maintained beaches and reefs.

Valuable nickel deposits on Ketrya Island are expected to enter production in 21209.

Notable Melians

 * Pharides of Zukharno - Ancient political philosopher known for his works on human nature, warfare, and the state. Citizen of the ancient Melian city-state of Zukharno, now the town of Súxarnon in County Thalen.
 * Daron Ladaxēva - Chess grandmaster and reigning national champion.
 * Alphegos Kassenin - Eminent mathematician and physicist, known for his role in the Kiravian Federacy's nuclear weapons program. Born and raised in Mirśamur.
 * Ansgar Therōsdur - Xth Governor of the Melian Isles, born in Intravia, but a resident of Thucydia for over a decade.
 * Biggus McDickus - Senior naval officer, born in Mirśamur.