Kaviska

Kaviska is the most populous state of the Kiravian Federacy, located in the northeastern region of Great Kirav. Home to Valēka, the Federacy's largest city and economic and cultural capital, Kaviska has long been at the centre of Kiravian history, with its economic, political, and cultural influence stretching far through time and space. Kaviska rose to great prominence during the Viceregal period of Kiravian history, became a major node of the Kilikas Enlightenment, and played a pivotal role in the Republican Revolution. It was the first area of Kirav to industrialise, and its merchants and mariners led the rise of Kiravia as a maritime and mercantile power.

History
Iaspara Peninsula

Imperial Era
Emperor Iavorius II separated the office of Grand Admiral of Ixnay from that of Viceroy of Kiravia, and reorganised the Coscivian colonies in Great Kirav into several smaller viceroyalties. The reduced Viceroyalty of the Kaviska originally extended from the northeast border of Hanoram to the southeast border of Harma, with undefined boundaries to the north and west. The Viceroy was relieved of responsibility for relations with the Gaelic polities of the Far Northeast, while remaining responsible for the ground defence of the northern and western frontiers. In 20324, all lands south of the Bay of New Hope were assigned to the Viceroyalty of Middle Kiravia. Now more closely resembling its modern shape, Kaviska now included the Dominion of Iaspara (centred on Valēka), the Dominion of Kanda (centred on Evira), the Dominon of Róvidrea, the Realm of Sedhedan, the Intendancy of the Upper Kaviska, and 2-5 shifting military districts covering outlying highland and northern areas, with their sparse populations of Gaels, Uroms, and a few Sedhem Coscivian homesteaders.

Viceregal Period and the United Provinces
During the Viceregal Period, the Viceroyalty of the Kyigrava and Dominion of Ventarya were the two most powerful Coscivian polities in Great Kirav, more or less evenly matched in terms of population, wealth, and clout. However, the Viceroys of the Kiyrgava struggled to assert their authority against the various subregional assemblies outside of the Kyigrava Valley, and to defend their disputed territorial claims in the Iravokan region, Serikorda, Íarthakelva, and elsewhere against breakaway frontier republics and settlers from neighbouring Coscivian and Gaelic states.

From [decade] until the Republican Revolution, Kaviska and Niyaska were in a state of. In the [decade], the Viceroyalties of the Kyigrava, Niyaska, and New Korsa (modern-day Etivéra and Váuadra), formed a military alliance and loose political union called the United Provinces to counter the influence of Ventarya and expand past the Aterandic Mountains into modern-day Hiterna and Kastera.

Valēka-based intellectuals took part in the Kilikas Enlightenment. This movement, which began in Kaviska, spread among the educated classes of the eastern Kiravian port cities, and brought renewed interest in the arts and sciences, and new developments in political philosophy. Notable among these was the work of Kálastuv Vindarin, whose writings revisited the Shaftonist concept of kéarita (usually translated as "republic", though not entirely congruent in meaning with the Western term), which provided much of the ideological foundation for the Republican Revolution.

Confederal Period
West Valēka gradually came to the fore as the de facto administrative capital of the Confederate Republics. Although the Confederal Stanora in its early form convened for its biannual sessions on the Hanoram riverbank that would later become Kartika, that area's lack of infrastructure led to most government agencies being located in West Valēka. The Stanora itself moved to West Valēka after becoming a permanent body. During the mid-confederal period, proto-industrialising Kaviska came to surpass Ventarya in population and economic output. Along with Etivéra and Kastera, it became the main desination for Coscivian immigrants, who saw little opportunity in Ventarya and the other states of South Kirav and Míhanska Bay, which offered few opportunities for land ownership and relied heavily on indentured labour. Although Eriadun was the largest city in the Confederate Republics of Kiravia for much of its existence, Valēka remained unchallenged as its commercial and cultural capital.

Geography
Kaviska occupies a roughly wedge-shaped territory in the Kiravian Northeast. It borders the states of Livella and Eredlina to the east, the Íravokan Sea (a margin of the Kilikas Sea) to the north, the Aquaric Ocean to the southeast (sharing maritime boundaries with Niyaska and Etivéra), and Arkvera to the west. The Kaviska River, for which the state is named, is fed by mountain springs just north of the state's geographic centre, and flows toward the southeast through the Kyigrava River Valley, ultimately bisecting the Iyaspala Peninsula before emptying into the Aquaric Ocean at Valëka. The state is quasi-officially divided into five geographic and economic regions: the Estuary-Insular region or Lower Kaviska (Yanxékiygrava) (comprising the Valēka metropolitan area), Upper Kaviska (Ixtékiygrava) (the northern Iyaspala peninsula and the heavily-populated Kaviska River Valley), Northern Kaviska (TuśkaKaviska) (encompassing the area between the source of the Kyigrava River and the Íravokan coast), and (NáriKaviska) Aterandic Kaviska (the mountainous regions on either side of the River Valley). Lower Kaviska is heavily urbanised and highly developed, owing to the concentric rings of sattelite cities and suburbs radiating outward from Valēka, though areas of the northern shore of the Iyaspala peninsula and the outer islands are more exurban. Though less extensively developed than Lower Kaviska, Upper Kaviska is characterised by exurban and rural areas of smallholds, poultry farms, and dairies, punctuated by medium-sized industrial cities such as Traur, Xéuleva, and Evira. Moving northward along the Kyigrava River, the cities give way to large towns and finally to smaller towns of 1-5,000 people, with the state capital of Alëdmar (population 212,000) being by far the largest city in the region. While Lower Kaviska and the southern portions of Upper Kaviska are ethnically diverse, Northern Kaviska and the northern reaches of Upper Kaviska have remained predominantly Sedhem since colonisation. Though there is some industry in Northern Kaviska, concentrated along the Íravokan coast, the hilly uplands are more agrarian and markedly less populated than either the estuary or river valley. Still, the region is more densely populated than the Aterandic mountain areas, which are home to small, scattered hamlets and isolated dwellings inhabited by Sedhem and Kiravite Uroms.

Temperate mixed forests historically covered most of the state's area, owing to a Laurentian climate. However, moving north and west, the vegetation becomes more hemiboreal-coniferous in accordance with a gradual transition towards a Köppen Dfb continental climate. Forests in the Aterandic highlands also become more coniferous as altitude increases.

Most of Kaviska has a supratemperate continental climate, moderated by oceanic influences, with some mountains in the northern and western part sof the state having an orotemperate climate.

Government
The State of Kaviska is a constitutional republic with a tricameral legislature known as the Republican Assembly. The lowest house of the Assembly, known as the Assembly of Delegates, is elected at-large by proportional representation, while the middle house (Legislative Congress) is elected by single-transferrable vote from municipal constituencies and twelve arbitrary electoral districts covering unincorporated areas, and the upper house (Council of State) comprises one Councillor for each countyship, regardless of population, elected by plurality vote.

The purpose of this uorthodox arrangement derives from the divergent interests and uneven population spread among Kaviska's geographic regions and the special constitutional status of the Sedhan ethnic group.(unclear if still canon)

Political Landscape
While Kaviska's voting habits in federal elections have become rather consistent (see below), its internal politics are rather competitive, reflecting the interests of a large and diverse population. The State Electoral Commission reports that the state has 24 registered parties, 20 of which have won at least one seat in any chamber of the Republican Assembly during the past decade. There are currently fifteen parties represented in the Legislative Congress and Council of State. Since the end of Kirosocialism, the major contenders in Kaviskan politics have been the Civic Institutional Party (centrist), the Democratic-Republican Party (Third Way, Christian left), and the Renewal Party (succeeded by the Excelsior and Justice & Development parties since 21193). These major parties typically rely on the support of smaller parties, many of which represent communal, sectional, or local interests, to form majorities and pass legislation. The Civic Institutional Party dominated Kaviskan politics in the decades leading up to Kirosocialism, and though it remained the second-largest party thereafter, it was generally unwilling and unable to serve as a meaningful opposition to the Socialist Party. The Renewal Party, which, led by Andrus Candrin, defeated the Kirosocialists in the gubernatorial election of 21183, remained similarly dominant for another decade, before disputes over leadership caused it to splinter into five successor parties in 21193.

In Kaviskan politics, personality and sectional interests are typically more important than ideology. Many voters have strong loyalties to individual politicians or cliques, and will follow them even as they switch parties and platforms. Parties both large and small devote much of their efforts to securing the loyalty of particular ethnosocial, occupational, and geographic communities, and constituencies are often won and lost by shifting one or two key voter blocs. Members of the Lusem Coscivian ethnic group, for example, are highly loyal to the DRP, and the sirētur class of exurban and investor-farmers (see Economy) have their interests represented by the Caritist Democratic Union. Since its 21193 schism, the rump Renewal Party has survived by cultivating the loyalty of Ensciryan Coscivians, Fiannrian-Kiravians, and residents of central Tanðurin Island in Valēka. The city of Valēka itself has a two-party system controlled by the Azure Civic Union and Emerald Civic Alliance, whose respective voter bases largely correspond to the fanbases of the city's two Federal Fieldball League teams, the Valēka Emperors and Valēka Metropolitans. Kaviskan cities outside the Valēka commuter belt often play the major parties off one another to obtain the best policy considerations for their areas. Ēvira and its environs have formed a party of their own, the Civil Union Party, dedicated to promoting the region's interests.

Federal Politics
As the Federacy's leading economic engine, international port of entry, and financial centre, Kaviska is a stronghold for the pro-business, ordoliberal Shaftonist-Republican Alliance. The leading parties in the Republican Assembly are affiliated with the Shaftonist-Republicans on the Federal level, reflecting Kaviskan political culture's strong affinity towards free enterprise, public institutions, and political moderation capable of accommodating people of diverse views and backgrounds.

As the most populous state, Kaviska holds the largest number of, and has often been a critical battleground in elections to the Prime Executure. In the 21200 Prime Executive election, Kaviska native and former Governor Andrus Candrin won Kaviska with 67% of the vote.

Local Government
As with most northeastern states, the majority (88%) of Kaviskans live in an incorporated municipality of some sort. Five classes of municipalities exist in the state: Grand City, City, Town, Township, and Hamlet. While hamlets and (to a lesser degree) townships are less autonomous vis-à-vis countyships than cities or towns, the classes are differentiated primarily by the internal structure of their governments. Countyships have less legislative power in Kaviska than in most states and are primarily responsible for providing public services, such as utilities, libraries, vocational schools, prisons, and tertiary roads. Education, land-use regulation, and community services (e.g. parks) are largely the domain of municipalities, and municipalities wield comparatively strong legislative and revenue powers.

Local elections are nonpartisan in all Kaviskan municipalities except for the Grand City of Valēka, which operates under a two-party system.

Law
Kaviskan law is derived from the law of the Coscivian Empire, and has been influenced by Sedhan (especially in property law) and by Burgundine commercial law.

Four appellate courts, the Xéuleva High Court, the Evira High Court, the Ruastron High Court, and the Aldēmar High Court. Capital Court of the Republic (state supreme court). Kaviska's state court system is the busiest and most expensive in the entire federation, and is known for its experienced judges and extremely competitive legal profession. More attorneys are licensed to practice law in Kaviska than in any other federal subject, but the state's bar examinations and professional regulations are notoriously difficult.

[Insert outline of some actual laws here]

Economy
Kaviska has the largest economy of any Kiravian Federal subject, and contributes over 15% of the Federacy's total GDP. The Kaviskan economy is extremely advanced and highly diversified, with major sectors including finance, manufacturing, biotechnology, information technology, international trade, insurance, publishing and media, consulting, land development, retail, agriculture, and tourism. Many of the nation's key economic and financial institutions ate based in the state, including the Federal Reserve Bank (the Kiravian central bank), Valēka Stock Exchange, and all five Kiravian credit rating bureaux.

Major business concerns operating out of Kaviska include
 * Alterion Group (investment banking, Valēka)
 * Imperial Bank of Kaviska (banking, Valēka)
 * Konterra ÁLO (investment banking, Valēka)
 * ÁLO Dókáreum (oil, gas, and petrochemicals; Valēka)
 * Overlin Engineering (electronic equipment, Valēka and Xéuleva)
 * SAK Þermidor-Āra (steel, Valēka)
 * Stesixorea United (shipbuilding, Valēka)
 * CPK Kōlixon Holdings (diversified investments, Valēka)
 * Ansulatus-Ruon Corporation (network infrastructure, Tháspelan)
 * SAK Ovestatarlum (Valēka)
 * Ecuniversa International (insurance, Valēka)
 * Crepuscula MT (insurance, Valēka)
 * Kiravian Broadcast Systems ÁLO (television and radio, Valēka)
 * ÁLO Mediarán (multimedia, Valēka)
 * Targevran Corporation (manufacturing, Valēka)
 * Iribisun Industries (manufacturing conglomerates)
 * Archer-Garaí PLR (marketing)
 * Seaborne Corporation (shipping)
 * Eastern Semiconductors ÁLO (Computer hardware, Evira)
 * ÁLO Vertex Atomcraft (atomic energy, Trár)
 * Federated Financial (banking, Xéuleva)
 * Macrhéa-Marín Computing (information technology, Esdrasar)

As with the other Mid-Oceanic states, an important component of the Kaviskan middle class is the sirēvturya class of investor-farmers. The sirēturya are small- and meadium-scale landowning farmers who continue to live on and cultivate their ancestral holdings but now derive most of their income from investments. The investor-farmer class first emerged during the later viceregal period (20670-20710) with the growth of the Kilikas Sea trading network. Valēka-based merchants looked to the farmers of Lower Kaviska and Raxinidan Island as investors in their mercantile enterprises. The sirēturya experienced a resurgence after Kirosocialism with the implementation of ordoliberal "Clarendonomics" policies that encouraged savings and small-and-medium enterprises. As multigenerational landowners, the sirēturya had weathered the Kirosocialist economic collapse better than the urban population, and were better disposed than most other Kiravian households to invest in capital markets.

Society & Culture
Due to its large, extremely diverse population and central economic position in the federation, Kaviska has come to be regarded as a fountainhead of Kiravian and Coscivian culture. The southern and eastern portions of the state are the heartland of the Northeastern cultural region of great Kirav, which extends into neighbouring Niyaska and Etivéra. Centred on the Valēka Metropolitan Area, this region is home to its own distinctive Kiravic dialect, customs, cuisine, and cultural ethos influenced by the numerous Coscivian ethnic cultures that have settled there over the centuries. This region often acts as the cultural "face" of Kiravia abroad, from which foreign perceptions of Kiravia and Kiravians tend to be generalised.

More inland and upland regions of the state preserve a more traditional, rural culture dominated by the Sedhan Coscivian ethnic group, while some communities in the Aterandic Mountains are better placed in the Eastern Highlands cultural region.

Ethnic Groups
Paisonic Coscivians are the largest single ethnic group in Kaviska, followed by Kir people, Sedhan Coscivians, Æran Coscivians, Taństan Coscivians, and Gaels, but the state is home to members of virtually every Coscivian ethnic group, as well as many non-Coscivian peoples, ranging from Gaels to Azikorians to the indigenous Tapkek.

Traditionally a Kir-majority state, large-scale migration from elsewhere in Kiravia and abroad since industrialisation has given modern Kaviska a highly multiethnic character. Many Kaviskans today are described (or describe themselves) as Úramdikir (roughly "hyphenated Kir") who speak Kiravic as their mother tongue and live in a primarily Kirish cultural context but also owe ancestry and affinity to other (mostly Coscivian) ethnic groups. Numerous (mostly perjorative) terms exist for the converse phenomenon of upwardly-mobile people who identify affirmatively as non-Kir but use Kiravic as their main language and do not live in a compact ethnic community.

There are two socially distinct populations of Taństan Coscivians in Kaviska: The Green Taństans, who have deeper roots in Kaviska, usually pre-Kirosocialist, and the Blue Taństans, who are the product of more recent waves of migration from the Northeastern states and elsewhere. The two groups are so named for their alignment in Valēka's intracity sporting rivalry: older Taństan families in Valēka mostly support the Valēka Metropolitans (who wear green uniforms), while newer arrivals mostly support the Valēka Emperors or the Bérasar Blues (both of whom wear blue uniforms).

Cosco-Ciattomi, Cosco-Yetruenes, Castics

Immigration
Because it contains the Federacy's economic capital and primary port, Kaviska has long been a gateway for immigration to Great Kirav.

The main cities where immigrants have settled in post-Kirosocialist times have been Valēka, [B], [C], and [D]. The largest post-Kirosocialist immigrant groups have been Alkharvis, Slakoscivians, Kulukusi refugees from Varshan, St. Kenneran and Pribraltarian Coscivians during their islands' independence struggle, Echoese, Beryllians, and {probably Cartadanians n' Kommenorenes n' stuff}.

Language
The official and primary language of Kaviska is Kiravic Coscivian. There are several traditional areal variants and dialects of Kiravic native to Kaviska, including Róvidrean Kiravic (spoken in Róvidrea), Estuary Kiravic (spoken on the lower Iaspara Peninsula and the South Bank), [Eviran Kiravic], and Svéaran Kiravic (spoken on the Svéa Peninsula and influenced heavily by Taństan Coscivian). In addition to these areal dialects, newer local dialects have developed in the state's larger cities since industrialisation, often quite distinct from the dialect of the surrounding countryside. Due to the eclectic mix of ethno-linguistic groups in the largest cities and strong neighbourhood effects, the population of Valēka and [other city] exhibit a diverse array of speech patterns, including many accents and sociolects identifiable with a certain part of the city or a particular social group.

After Kiravic, the languages with the most speakers in Kaviska are Paisonic Coscivian, Ensciryan Coscivian, Gaelic, Antaric Coscivian, Erasan Coscivian, Taństan Coscivian, Hesperan Coscivian, Lusonic, Síkutran Coscivian, Eskean Coscivian, Austral Coscivian, and Melotic. However, according to the Census Bureau, all Coscivian and Elutic languages with at least 10,000 speakers in the Federacy had at least one speaker recorded as living in Kaviska on the 21200 census.

Religion
The Catholic Church is the largest single religious body in Kaviska. Jesuit, Franciscan, and Dominican missionaries established their earliest beachheads among Kiravia's Coscivian population in Valēka, and urban Kaviska would go on to become the main base of the Coscivian Catholic Church in northern and eastern Kirav.

[Patriarchate of Valēka/Othercity and All Kir'] The city of Xanten is the seat of the Coscivian Orthodox Church. Coscivian Orthodoxy is the traditional faith of Kaviska's largest ethnic group, the Paisonic Coscivians, as well as of other ethnic groups with large populations in Kaviska, such as the Kālatans, Ardónians, {etc.}

Over three quarters of Kiravians who profess the Jewish faith live in Kaviska, with most belonging to the Avramem Coscivian ethnic group and practicing. The Avramem population is concentrated in Canova, West Valēka, County Ālkūdan, County Tapanin, and County Séarlas.

Architecture
The cities of Kaviska bear witness to over eight-hundred years of architecture, reflecting such diverse stylistic influences as Coscivian classicism, the vernacular architectures of northern and western Éorsa, the building traditions of the Celts, and more recent imports from Levantia and further afield, as well as centuries of changing functional demands as the state has developed and urbanised. Coscivian Modernist architecture, known for its geometrically variegated high-rises and "semi-open" approach to interior space, was born in response to the high population densities that accompanied economic modernisation in Valēka. Kiravia's first skyscrapers were built in Kaviska, as were its first suburban housing estates, office parks, and shopping malls.

[The bridges of Trár should be in here]

Film, Television, and Radio
The Kiravian domestic motion picture industry was born in Southeast Kaviska and North Niyaska, and remained centred on this general area until the Kirosocialist Era, when the state-approved film studios and government investment in new lighting and imaging technology were directed toward Escarda, while a new market-driven film industry grew up in Sirana under the Federalist rump republic. and The contemporary hub of Kiravic-language mainstream film production is now Pontevedra, Argévia. However, in the new capitalist era, Valēka has reëmerged as a major centre for the production of vernacular language films (particularly Paisonic Coscivian, Æran Coscivian, Kaśuvan Coscivian, and Gaelic), independent films, and - most importantly - television. [Elabourate more on TV]

[Radio - Big radio and audio industry]