Urom

Kiravian Aboriginals or Aboriginal Kiravites are a polyphyletic group of peoples who are collectively considered the indigenous inhabitants of the island continent of Great Kirav and its surrounding islands, present there before the arrival of the proto-Coscivians.

Definition
The definition of 'Aboriginal' that has guided Kiravian aboriginal policy since the Térunbuir administration has been:

ethno-social communities having;
 * continuity in lineage and identity with the inhabitants of Great Kirav prior to the arrival of the Elutic and Cosco-Adratic peoples,
 * some meaningful continuity in language, culture, lifestyle, or social organisation with the same,
 * a history of political autonomy from Coscivian polities and social separation from the Emperor’s subjects, and
 * economic and developmental disadvantages compared to neighbouring communities not so distinguished.

This definition encompasses a diverse collection of people groups, many of them small-numbered, across different language families, traditional lifestyles, phenotypes, religious traditions, and degrees and manners of differentiation from Coscivian and Coscivian-adjacent society. Although components of the standard definition have been criticised on various grounds, it is nonetheless the most widely used definition by government and civil society alike. According to Rifpito activist and scholar Yefes Ayefsipti, the classification of groups as Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal can seem arbitrary and artificial to urban Coscivians and to Western observers, but in regions with established Aboriginal populations the of Aboriginality is an inescapable and deeply felt social reality. A point of agreement between the government and Aboriginal leaders is that Aboriginality is fundamentally an attribute of peoples and tribes, and that individuals are only Aboriginal by virtue of belonging to such a people.

In sociological and public policy discourse, usage of the term 'Aboriginal' normally excludes the Scheduled Minorities (who maintain a separate identity from Coscivians but have long histories of statehood and civil integration), as well as groups such as the Kiorgians and Indokwéans who are of heavily Palæo-Kiravian descent but identify as Coscivians. However, these groups may considered Aboriginals in anthropological and historical contexts.

Coscivian Migrations
[Dark History] [Deep History]

Culture
Kiravite Aboriginals are a polyphyletic group, divided among five apparently unrelated language families (and three language isolates) and exhibiting considerable variation in appearance. Their traditional religious practices can differ greatly between tribes, encompassing shamanism, totemism, vitalism, monotheism, universism, animism, spiritism, and combinations thereof. Today, most Aboriginals practice some form of Christianity or Islam, usually in syncresis with their previous beliefs and traditions. There have also been efforts to formalise and institutionalise wholly native belief systems in order to perpetuate them in modernity.

Contemporary Social Characteristics
[Under reconstruction]

Population
As of the latest census, Aboriginal Kiravites numbered just over 34.4 million people, accounting for about three percent of the total population of the Kiravian Federacy. 62% of Aboriginals live in West Kirav.

Political Status
Today, all Aboriginal Kiravians are citizens of the Kiravian Federacy, with the four Draili tribes being the last to gain citizenship in 21126. Previously, the civil status of Aboriginals varied by the political favour in which their tribe was held, usually entailing lower grades of status such as metics, mere nationals, or subjects of the land.

Overall, 48% of Aboriginal Kiravites live outside of tribal jurisdiction and are subject to the same laws as other Kiravian citizens. The 52% that live on tribal lands enjoy special autonomy and exemptions from state and federal laws that vary by the type of tribal jurisdiction they inhabit.

The larger Treaty Tribes govern Tribal Authorities, defined by the Aboriginal Affairs Code as “domestic, dependent, but autocephalous subjects of federal law”. Though they are not states themselves and have no independent input into federal politics as states, territories, and other federal subjects do, Tribal Authorities have the same standing as states under federal law. They exercise most administrative powers of states – levying taxes, operating police forces, issuing licences, and passing laws – within areas under their jurisdiction, which include both one or more autonomous counties and larger non-autonomous areas of states where the Tribal Authority’s jurisdiction is extraterritorial.

Smaller Treaty Tribes have Autonomous Countyships – Areas within a state that can operate internally as if they were their own state, but are not subjects of federal law.

Neutral Tribes, small Treaty Tribes in the East, and two Defeated Tribes have access to reservations. The nature and powers of reservations vary widely. Some are virtually indistinguishable from autonomous countyships, having a great deal of autonomy. Others have more limited powers, behaving much like ordinary countyships or municipal authorities, and still others are very weak, resembling mere planning districts and homeowner’s associations.

Settlements
Drail (Kiravic: Drayin) is by far the largest Kiravian settlement with an Aboriginal-majority population (78% of its 84,000 people in 21205), followed by Saɣuarśa, the capital of the Xéoxƿém Tribal Authority in Transateranda (84% of its 46,000 people).

Major Kiravian cities with large Aboriginal populations include:
 * Escarda (14.7%)
 * Kaþedra (20.6%)
 * Tetraliþka (23.3%)

List of Recognised Tribes

 * Draili - Devahoma
 * Tapkek - Kiygrava, Niyaska
 * Hidenrek - Kastera, Arkvera
 * Qódavas - Súneridan
 * Rifpito - Súneridan
 * Rofo - Váuadra, Hanoram, Ventarya
 * Shyotse (Śêtsem) - Etivéra
 * Síkuru - Kyllera, Îkodha
 * Yutuxno - Metrea, Ilfenóra
 * Varekthari - Metrea
 * Wawa (Váua) - Váuadra, Etivéra (historically), Hanoram