Kaviska

Kiygrava is the most populous state of the Kiravian Federacy, located in the northeastern region of Great Kirav. It is home to Valēka, the Federacy's largest city and economic and cultural capital.

History
The Coscivian expedition led by Kedhur Valēkas that discovered Great Kiravia made its first landfall on the island of Ilánova. While circumnavigating the island in order to chart its coasts, the explorers sighted a larger landmass, the island continent of Great Kirav proper. Sailing southest toward and around the Iaspara Peninsula, Valēkas and his crew entered what is now the Valēka Roadstead, which they noted for its sheltered waters and several natural harbours created by the surrounding islands and peninsulae.

Colonial Period
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 Kiygrava originally extended from the northeast border of Hanoram to the southeast border of Axólega, 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, Kiygrava 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 Kiygrava, and 2-5 shifting military districts covering outlying highland and northern areas, with their sparse populations of Gaels, Aboriginals, and a few Sedhem Coscivian homesteaders.

Viceregal Period
During the Viceregal Period, the Viceroyalty of the Kiygrava 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 Kiygrava Valley, and to defend their disputed territorial claims in the Iravokan region, Serikordia, Íarthakelva, and elsewhere against breakaway frontier republics and settlers from neighbouring Coscivian and Gaelic states.

From [decade] until the Republican Revolution, Kiygrava and Niyaska were in a state of. In the [decade], the Viceroyalties of Kiygrava, 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 Kiygrava, 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 Kiygrava 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
Kiygrava 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 Niyasca and Endivéga), and Arcvera to the west. The Kiygrava 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 Kiygrava 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 Kiygrava (comprising the Valēka metropolitan area), Upper Kiygrava (the northern Iyaspala peninsula and the heavily-populated Kiygrava River Valley), Northern Kiygrava (encompassing the area between the source of the Kiygrava River and the Íravokan coast), and Aterandic Kiygrava (the mountainous regions on either side of the River Valley). Lower Kiygrava 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 Kiygrava, Upper Kiygrava is characterised by exurban and rural areas of smallholds, poultry farms, and dairies, punctuated by medium-sized industrial cities such as Traur, Xæluret, and Evira. Moving northward along the Kiygrava 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 Kiygrava and the southern portions of Upper Kiygrava are ethnically diverse, Northern Kiygrava and the northern reaches of Upper Kiygrava have remained predominantly Sedhem since colonisation. Though there is some industry in Northern Kiygrava, 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 Aboriginals.

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.

Government
The State of Kiygrava is a constitutional republic with a unique 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 Kiygrava's geographic regions and the special constitutional status of the Sedhem ethnic group. The charter of the Colony of the Kiygrava Watershed granted the province as a homeland to the marginalised Sedhem people of Northern Éorsa in gratitude for Sedhem Kedhur Valēkas' discovery of Great Kirav, but permitted other Coscivians to settle there as well. At the time of the Republican Revolution, the Sedhem comprised some 40% of the Kiygravan population, and were present in significant numbers even in the Estuary region. As such, proposals to abolish special status for the Sedhem under the new constitution proved politically untenable, and Article IX of the Fundamental Statute reäffirms that Kiygrava is the inalienable national home of the Sedhem people. As immigration from Éorsa and internal migration from elsewhere in Great Kirav rapidly increased the non-Sedhem population in Lower Kiygrava, the population-based, single-victor electoral system quickly began to diminish the political voice of voters in Upper, Northern, and Aterandic Kiygrava. After legal challenges from the Sedhem community and a tax revolt by Northern Kiygravans of all ethnicities, a constitutional convention met in Aldëmar to work out a compromise reulting in the current system.

Political Landscape
While Kiygrava'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 Kiygravan 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 Kiygravan 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 Kiygravan 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 Ĥeldican Coscivians, Kuhlfrosian-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. Kiygravan 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, Kiygrava 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 Kiygravan 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, Kiygrava holds the largest number of, and has often been a critical battleground in elections to the Prime Executure. In the 21200 Prime Executive election, Kiygrava native and former Governor Andrus Candrin won Kiygrava with 67% of the vote.

Local Government
As with most notheastern states, the majority (88%) of Kiygravans 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 Kiygrava 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 Kiygravan municipalities except for the Grand City of Valēka, which operates under a two-party system.

Law
Kiygravan 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 Xéulan High Court, the Evira High Court, the Ruastron High Court, and the Aldēmar High Court. Capital Court of the Republic (state supreme court). Kiygrava'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 Kiygrava 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
Kiygrava has the largest economy of any Kiravian Federal subject, and contributes over 15% of the Federacy's total GDP. The Kiygravan 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 Kiygrava include
 * Alterion Group (investment banking, Valēka)
 * Imperial Bank of Kiygrava (banking, Valēka)
 * Konterra ÁLO (investment banking, Valēka)
 * ÁLO Dókáreum (oil, gas, and petrochemicals; Valēka)
 * Overlin Engineering (electronic equipment, Valēka and Xæluret)
 * SAK Þermidor-Āra (steel, Valēka)
 * Stesixorea United (shipbuilding, Valēka)
 * CPK Kōlixon Holdings (diversified investments, Valēka)
 * Ansulatus-Ruon Corporation (network infrastructure, Tháspélan)
 * 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, Xæluret)
 * Macrhéa-Marín Computing (information technology, Esdrasar)

As with the other Mid-Oceanic states, an important component of the Kiygravan 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 Kiygrava 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, Kiygrava has come ot 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 Niyasca, Róvidrea, and Endivéga. 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 Sedhem Coscivian ethnic group, while some communities in the Aterandic Mountains are better placed in the Eastern Highlands cultural region.

Ethnic Groups
Peninsular Coscivians are the largest single ethnic group in Kiygrava, followed by Sedhan Coscivians, Æran Coscivians, Taństem 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 Alkharvis to the indigenous Tapkek.

Cosco-Ciattomi, Cosco-Yetruenes, Castics

Immigration
Because it contains the Federacy's economic capital and primary port, Kiygrava 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 Cartadaniacans n' Kommenorenes n' stuff}.

Religion
The Catholic Church is the largest single religious body in Kiygrava. Jesuit, Franciscan, and Dominican missionaries established their earliest beachheads among Kiravia's Coscivian population in Valēka,... The city of Xanten is the seat of the Coscivian Orthodox Church. Coscivian Orthodoxy is the traditional faith of Kiygrava's largest ethnic group, the Peninsular Coscivians, as well as of other ethnic groups with large populations in Kiygrava, such as the Kālatem, Ardóniem, {etc.}

Over three quarters of Kiravians who profess the Jewish faith live in Kiygrava, 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 Kiygrava 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 Kiygrava, 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 film industry was born in Valēka, and although the hub of Kiravic-language mainstream film production shifted definitively to Pontevedra, Argévia after Kirosocialism, Kiygrava remains the main centre for the production of vernacular language films (particularly Sedham Coscivian, Æran Coscivian, Kaśuvan Coscivian, and Gaelic), independent films. and television.

Kiravian TV and Radio live here.