Sydona Islands

The Sydona Islands, officially the People's Republic of Sydona, is a state of the Kiravian Federacy comprising a roughly triangular archipelago of off the southern coast of Ixnay in the Pelian Sea. The islands have a long and convoluted history, having come under the rule of many different nations and empires over the course of the centuries.

Etymology
The name Sydona is a contraction of a twenty-two syllable High Coscivian compound word meaning "the land where beer does flow and men chunder". This is understood to refer to the wild drinking parties among celebrating Coscivian sailors after completing the long and arduous sea voyage to Sydona.

History
At the time of their discovery, the Sydona Islands were inhabited by a people or group of closely-related peoples called the Whateveriotes or "Eteosydonans".

Geography
There are over 20 natural and currently 3 artificial islands in the Sydona archipelago. The five largest islands are Érdoran (Yerduran, also known as Lordasydona or "Grand Sydona"), Fauda, Manētuva, Teğer, and Mar-Kśaver. Érdoran comprises over 35% of the state's land area and is home to just over half of its population.

The archipelago lies entirely within the temperate belt, with a broadly (Trewartha Cf), with ample rainfall and a narrow, moderate annual temperature range. Sydona's antipodean seasons are well-defined: Spring is usually cool, windy, and damp, while warm summers and mild autumns create a long growing season for crops. Winters, though mild, are generally chilly and humid.

Government


The People's Republic of Sydona is a constitutional republic. The unicameral legislature, the People's Assembly, is elected triennially by from constituencies subject to adjustment every ten years. Sydona's relationship to the Federal government and its level of autonomy therefrom are equivalent to that of a Kiravian mainland state. Sydona has full control over its own budget and elects its own Chief Executive without the need for Federal confirmation. The Chief Executive is elected every four years by alternative vote.

Sydona returns six members to the Federal Stanora by statewide, and one member to the Council of States elected by the Coscivian People's Assembly.

Sydona has a multiparty political landscape. Currently, the largest single party in the People's Assembly is the Convergence and Union Party (affiliated with the Shaftonist-Republican Alliance), which draws support mainly from the urban Austral Coscivian middle classes, Mainlanders, and other Coscivian and Christian minority groups. The CUP supports market-driven economic development, maintaining a high level of integration with the rest of the Kiravian Federacy, and an inclusive, moderate conception of the state's identity that shies away from Austral Coscivian ethnonationalism. The Kirosocialist National Ba'ath Party (affiliated with the New Deal Alliance), is the oldest party in the state, and is supported most strongly by the urban working classes, Coscivian Sunnis, and Arabs. The KNBP is one of the most influential Kirosocialist parties remaining relevant since the National Renewal, and also one of the most hardline. It favours state-led economic development and a more authoritarian approach to governance, though in recent years its main rallying points have been increasing income equality, strengthening labour unions, and rejecting closer integration with the rest of the Federacy under capitalist rule, in favour of greater autonomy for Sydona and a degree of protectionism for the islands' economy. The third major political grouping in Sydona is the Seven Sons of Father Abraham, an alliance between the Christian People's Party, the Autonomous Popular Party, and five smaller parties making up the Islamic-Democratic List. Inspired by and  thought, the SSFA promote a  and social conservatism. In contrast to the Islamic-Democratic List, the Islamic Da'wah Party (affiliated with the Caucus of Justice) calls for a more exacting and comprehensively Islamic reform of society grounded in Shi'i clericalism.

The state is in the process of establishing a tax-funded public healthcare subsidy to cover 50-70% of in-hospital costs and 30-50% of general practitioner costs for its citizens in conjunction with private insurance. Scheduled for a full rollout in 21209, Sydona's would be the twentieth state healthcare subsidy of its kind in the Federacy.

The Emergency Backup Executive, a elected to lead the Federacy's  efforts in the event that all other constitutional successors to the Prime Executive are killed or incapacitated in a catastrophic event, has their official residence at the Prehnite Hill Tracts on Grand Sydona.

Defence Forces
Like other Kiravian states, Sydona is entitled to maintain its own local defence forces. The Sydonan People's Army is responsible for air and land defence, and the Sydonan People's Navy functions as the islands', discharging roughly the same responsibilities in Sydonan waters as the Maritime Cutter Service does in the Home Islands.

Society & Culture
Sydona has a rich and diverse culture, blending the dominant mores of Coscivian civilisation with Pelian, Alkharvian, and Rumeli influence, as well as more exotic cultural borrowings brought by maritime trade.

Ethnic groups


Main social groups:


 * Austral Coscivians (a.k.a. Deep South Coscivians)
 * "Mainlanders" and "Overseas Coscivians" - Coscivians ith origins elsewhere, generally whose families migrated within the last four generations. Can be extended to include some longer-established non-Austral Coscivian Coscivians, who have a social and political affinity with Mainlanders, and sometimes Melotes.
 * Melotes
 * Rumeli Coscivians
 * Istro-Coscivians

Alkharvis, hopefully lots pending Azi approval Urceo-Perso-Celts

Woolzi Arabs and Coscivians-of-Woolzi-origin (assimilated mostly)

Groups officially classified as "Small-numbered Sydonan peoples":
 * Royal Sydonans
 * Leinlanders/Leinish
 * Salesians

Language
The majority and official language of the Sydona Islands is Austral Coscivian. Known simply as ludnarauna or "common speech" in written sources for the first few centuries of the Coscivian presence, during which time High Coscivian was the main language of administration and Maritime Coscivian the main language of commerce, the history of Austral Coscivian remains poorly understood and is of great interest to linguists. Most theories of the language's development accept that it developed mainly from the "Common Iatic" language spoken as a lingua franca across much of the southern and western Coscivian Empire, and note a significant Pelian influence from early on, as well as noticeable Maritime Coscivian influence in coastal dialects. Austral Coscivian is not considered mutually intelligible with Kiravic, though monolingual speakers of the two languages can often communicate to a limited degree with sufficient effort.

Kiravic Coscivian is an auxiliary official language, and is spoken by up to 40% of the population, mostly as a second language, though it is common as a first language in the major cities and among the Mainlander community. All public information is available in Kiravic, and many large businesses now work mainly in Kiravic. However, Austral Coscivian remains the dominant language, and most Kiravic-speakers living in Sydona must learn Austral Coscivian in order to get by. The Sydonan government has extended a great deal of patronage toward the language, and has instituted programmes to promote it in literature, the arts, academia, and daily life.

Other languages spoken in Sydona by sizeable communities include Pelian, Arabic, Melotic, Istro-Coscivian, and Leinish, all of which are accommodated by the government.

Religion
Coscivian Orthodoxy, Shi'a Islam (Rumeli, Shapiri, Twelver), Roman Catholicism, Sunni Islam (need to decide on sects), Melote Pythagoreanism

Woolzi Sects, Sarostivism. Ancient Coscivian Moon- and ancestor-worship both Christianised and Islamised.

Smaller: CHURCH OF PEL, Zoroastrianism or Manichæanism, as appropriate, Imperial Catholicism, Reformed Orthodoxy, Judaism

Sports
Sports are an important part of Sydonan cultural life. The most popular sport in Sydona is Kiravian-rules football (also known as fieldball). Fieldball is widely played informally and at the organised recreational, varsity, collegiate, and local amateur/semi-professional level. Professionally, the islands are home to two teams competing in the Empire Fieldball League and one competing in the Regions Football League.

(Austral Coscivian: kʊʉrat, from Arabic kura "ball") is the second most popular sport in Sydona, in stark contrast to the rest of the Kiravian Federacy, where it receives little attention. The Sydona Islands are represented by their own national team in international competitions, separate from the notoriously irrelevant Kiravian national team. Although the Sydonan national team outperforms its Kiravian counterpart, it is still not particularly successful in tournament play. Soccer is generally played during the antipodean spring and summer in Sydona, coinciding with the fall/winter regular season for fieldball in Great Kirav, though it is evolving into a more year-round sport. The Austral Coscivian language has its own distinct vocabulary relating to soccer, much of which is locally coined or borrowed from Continental Ixnayan languages, unlike Kiravic Coscivian which has mostly borrowed or calqued its soccer terminology from Levantine or wider international usage.

Economy
Sydona has a diversified economy with strong tertiary and quaternary sectors built atop robust export-oriented agricultural, mining, and fishing industries, a well-educated workforce, and high levels of social spending. The islands are the primary access point to the wider Kiravian economy in southeast Ixnay, supporting a strong trade and manufacturing base. Behind the major mainland states of Kiygrava, Cascada, and Devalōmara, Sydona is the largest Kiravian state in Ixnay in terms of total export value. Most heavy industry is concentrated on Érdoran, especially in the Destransar and Ádrasca metropolitan areas. Key industrial products include steel, mechanical and electrical components, ships and boats, æroplanes and components thereof, composite materials, and consumer durables. Ærospace is a growing industry in the islands: Two Kiravian and one Amerigan æroplane manufacturers operate production facilities on Érdoran, and the Kiravian Federal Spaceflight Authority is constructing a launch platform on Manētuva for the deployment of satellites.

The state is currently undergoing a major construction boom due to the increased demand for housing spurred by immigration from Great Kirav to the achipelago's major metropolitan areas, as well as increased demand for commercial real estate driven by the CPP government's pro-development ordoliberal policies. A number of artificial islands are being added to the archipelago by UIF and Kiravian contractors to increase the amount of land available for residential and industrial development in the face of "green zone" laws backed by strong agrarian interests in the state government.

Owing to the islands' strategic location, the Kiravian Forces maintain a large presence in Sydona. The state is home to five major Federal military reservations: Manētuva Naval Base, Fort Liberance, Fort Candrin, Mætrēsar Army Airbase, and Avogadrón Airbase, as well as a number of smaller installations for military communications, reconnaisance and monitoring, and strategic weaponry. These facilities and the military personnel stationed at them have been a significant boon to the local economy, generating consumption, revenue, and employment.

The eastern islands hold major deposits of, while Érdoran and Manētuva have significant reserves of tin and tungsten. Offshore natural gas exploration is underway in the Sydona Sound. Sydona's handwavium industry is tightly supervised by the federal government, as the mineral is of great strategic value to the Kiravian Navy and shipping industry, which require it for interregional travel.

Agriculture employs some 16% of Sydonans, and is focused on the production of Coscivian staples such as potatoes, cale, barley, beef cattle, and hogs. Onions, leeks, celery, cabbage, and Wool was historically a major export of the islands, and sheep continue to be kept in large numbers, especially in inland Érdoran. Ducks are raised widely across Sydona, and are a major ingredient in Deep South Coscivian cuisine. Sydona is the leading producer of in the Federacy.