Ovetta

Luria Banlieueregis Luria
Province of Caphiria
Flag
Country	Caphiria
Regions	5
Cities	19
Capital	Castra Vetera
Government
• Praetor	Machus Elvorena
Population  (2030)
• Total	52,994,593

Luria (Banlieueregis Luria), is a Province of Caphiria located on Caphiria's half of the island Urlazio. Luria shares a border with Cartadania on its west and the Province of Auvia to its east. Luria is a cultural and tourist haven with things like Coriovallum University as well as being a center for food and automobile production, and having popular coastal resorts such as the Sacard Beach in Castra Vetera, the Viridian Hotel in D'odio, the Occidentis Resonare (Western Echo Resort & Spa) in Istrium, and the exclusive Nova Resort in Magius. Its capital, Castra Vetera, has one of the highest quality of life indices and most advanced social services in the Imperium as well.

Luria is also notable for its many ruined towers, called Arxi, which are some of the only physical remains of the Adonerii civilization. Luria has the most preserved Arxi in the Imperium and possibly the world as Caphiria takes preservation of ancient cultures - notably related to Latinic culture - incredibly significant and crucial.

History

The modern-day ruins of Vetera

The original inhabitants of Luria were two tribes, the Olvucchorso and Lomincori, who would eventually join the Adonerii League and become part of the Adonerii civilization in the 14th century BC. The capital of Adonerum, Vetera, was on Luria and served as the infrequent meeting place of the various tribes and city-states to discuss trade and politics. Over time, other city-states from Adonerum and local tribes from Sarpedon would vie for control of the area which led to the development and use of the Arxi, military protective towers.

By the 600s BC, a series of natural disasters had ruined Vetera and crippled Adonerum which led to a power vacuum and dozens of smaller tribes like the Agaro, Visustrati, and Camplectați broke out for control over the territory. This led to the fall of the once-thriving urban population centers in the area and the resurgence of scattered rural villages and small independent city-states. The largest of these was the city-state of Luridarinis, one of the smaller tribes that originated from the Adonerii League that had managed to survive the fall of Adonerum. The leader, Avonatepes of Luridarinis, engaged in a series of wars against the Visustrati and Camplectați known as the Luridarian Conflict. Eventually, Avonatepes had defeated all of his rivals at the expense of depleting virtually all of his city-state's resources in the process. With no more than a few dozen men, Avonatepes made an incredible gamble and sailed south until he reached the mainland with the rationale being that he couldn't go north to Levantia or east/west where the ocean seemed endless.

To his surprise, Avonatepes stumbled onto the Latinic people who seemed to be the regional hegemon. Even more surprising was the fact that Avonatepes was able to communicate with the Latins with no translator and realized that their cultures had significant overlap. A deal was made in that Avonatepes would be given the resources needed to ensure that Luridarinis would survive on the condition that Luridarinis would be the first line of defense against any hostile foreigner or peoples that did not speak their language.

This deal remained intact for close to two centuries until the successors of the Latinic people, the Republic of Caphiria, went through a period of rapid expansion and conquest. During this time, Luridarinis had remained a relatively small city-state that Caphiria valued for its pastures and rich countryside. The Caphirians continued to honor the deal of their ancestors until an ambitious senator, Commonesius Valianus, passed a bill that allowed Luridarinis to remain independent with some autonomy as a civitas foederata (allied state). In theory, this didn't alter the longstanding deal but in practice it meant that Luridarinis was under Caphirian control and they were in no position to try to argue this as it would have been foolish to try to go to war.

Within a few decades of Valianus' bill, Luridarinis was a full-fledged part of the Caphirian Republic. It had been "promoted" to the status of province, had been renamed to the more Latinic-name of Luria, and its new capital was named after its ancestral capital, Castra Vetera.

Geography

Luria has an area of xx,xxx km2 and a coastline of xxx km on the Salidum Sea. It is bordered by the province of Auvia to its west and shares its western border with two Cartadanian states–San Andreas and Treviso. The climate is typically Mediterranean along the coast, whereas in the inner zones it is more continental, with low temperatures in winter. 51% of the total area is hilly, 34% mountainous and the remaining 15% is made up of plains. There is a high seismic risk in the area of the region.

Politics

Administrative divisions

Luria is divided into 5 regions and 19 prefectures, and the capital is Castra Vetera. Its Praetor, Machus Elvorena, was elected in 2030 and is in his second term.

File:LuriaProvinceDivisions.png

The regions and cities of Luria

Region	Prefecture	Cities
Mètuum Region	Prefecture I - IV	Castra Viternia, Lanorum, Maledo, Adavespono, Solest, Garium, Vennia, Tarsius
Pali Region	Prefecture V - VIII	Rhesius, Pidius, Treto, Moriuli, Elentum
Escele Region	Prefecture IX - XI	Magius, Aralina, Buciano, Suro, Civato, Deutonium
Allumai Region	Prefecture XII - XVI	Casalta, D'Odio, Vicilia, Voluco, Vicul, Cascherna, Padi, Centeo, Vermeno, Lidurgio, Abrosca, Spatene
Anare Region	Prefecture XVII - XIX	Castra Vetera, Arberra, Istrium, Vanguidi, Porteci

Economy

The agro-food industry is one of the main pillars of industry of Luria. The organization of the sector is improving and leading to higher levels of quality and salaries. Luria mainly produces fruit and vegetables, but has also expanded its production of flowers grown in greenhouses, becoming one of the leading regions of the sector in Caphiria. The value added of this sector represents around 6.5% of the total value added of the region, equaling $213.7 million. Luria produces over 50% of the Imperium's nuts and is also the leader in the production of tomatoes, which reaches 2.5 million tonnes a year. A weak point, however, for the region's agriculture is the very reduced size of farms, equal to 3.53 hectares. Animal breeding is widespread (it was done in 50,122 farms in 2010) and the milk produced is used to process typical products, such as mozzarella. Olive trees, mainly of the varieties Carpellese, Cornia, Frantoio, Leccino, Ogliarola Barese, Olivella, Ortice, Pisciottana, Ravece and Salella covers over 74,604 hectares (184,350 acres) of the agricultural land, together with the production of fruit, contributing $620.6 million to the economy. Wine production has increased as well as the quality of the wine.

Heavy industry used to be concentrated in the northern area, in which the largest industrial area was a suburb located in the city of Vennia. Vennia enjoyed a favorable logistic position due its proximity to the sea and to an industrial harbor, and included steel factories that were among the largest in Sarpedon. The steel factories operated since 1905 for about 80 years, but by the end of the sixties, all industries of Vennia gradually started to lose competitiveness, and the steel factories were definitively closed in 1991. At the beginning of the 70s, plans for the de-industrialization of the area were presented, as it was perceived that the causes of competitive loss were impossible to remove. In 1970 the City Council decided that 30% of space of the industrial should be dismantled and turned into public parks. In 1976, a definitive report concluded that the lack of competitiveness was due to "impossibility to expand the facilities because of lack of space".

Sea-based activity accounts about 5.9% of the economy, which includes port movements of goods and passengers and sea transportation, as well as a sizable seaside tourism economy. There is a massive automotive industrial production industry, focused on high-quality models of brands of Ocessai, in facilities located in Porteci and Magius. There is also a significant aerospace industry. A Mars mission named Însettu in 2016 had a major part of its technology designed in Surio.

The GDP per capita of Luria is the highest among the regions of northern Caphiria, yet it is only 66.7% of the Caphirian average, which highlights the steep economic gap between the North and the South of Caphiria. The situation of Luria's economy is considered "anomalous", as it is believed to have a large potential not properly exploited, as well as high rates of unemployment and of submerged economy. It was speculated that one factor could have been a failure of Luria to connect with the economy of the unitary Caphirian state, while another factor is its peripheral position too distant from the developed central areas of Sarpedon. Some factors may contribute in keeping the economy less competitive or less flexible compared to southern Caphirian and Sarpedonic regions, among them, a larger public administration sector (which accounted for 20.4% of the whole economy in 2021, while in Caphiria the figure is XX%) suggesting a too large number of public employees or white collars. The number of lawyers is 6.4 every 1000, by comparison in southern province Sucalagio the number is 1.7. Because of a less developed economy, Luria may have suffered less the negative effects of recent economic cycles.

Demographics

The province, with a population of 52.9 million inhabitants, is divided into nine regions with 33 cities. Over half of the population lives along the coast, with the coastal cities of Castra Vetera, Castra Viternia, Vermeno, and Centeo having the highest populations in the province. The province, which was characterized until recently by an acute economic contrast between internal and coastal areas, has shown an improvement in the last decade thanks to the development of the cities of Istrium and Magius. At the same time, the cities of Aralina, Spatene and in part Magius, have developed a variety of activities connected to advanced types of services.

Unlike central and southern Caphiria, in the last decade the province of Luria has not attracted large numbers of immigrants. The Censorial Assembly has estimated that 741,924 foreign-born immigrants live in Luria, equal to 1.4% of the total population. Part of the reason for this is in recent times, there have been more employment opportunities in southern regions than in the northern regions.

Culture

The culture of Luria is rich with a vast array of culture and history. The Adonerii civilization were among the first to colonize the land and their legacy and influence is found across the entire province. The Adonerii were well known for construction of Arxi, a kind of tower-fortress, and over 79 of these are still intact across Luria. Luria also has the most Adonerii temples and ruins have within Caphiria and a lot of the modern culture is shaped around this cultural heritage.

In the 18th century, Castra Vetera was the last city to be visited by philosophers who created the "Grand Tour" which was the big touring voyage to visit all the important cultural sites of the Sarpedonic continent.

Cuisine

An authentic Lurian pizza with fiordilatte cheese

Lurian cuisine varies within the province. While coastal dishes center around seafood, Civatian and Aralinaian ones rely more on fresh vegetables and cheeses. The cuisine from Magius combines the culinary traditions from both Castra Vetera and Aralina.

Luria produces wines including Lacryma Christi, Fiano, Aglianico, Greco di Tufo, Pere 'e palomma, Ischitano, Taburno, Solopaca, and Taurasi. The cheeses of Luria consist of Mozzarella di Bufala (buffalo mozzarella), fiordilatte ("flower of milk") a mozzarella made from cow's milk, ricotta from sheep or buffalo milk, provolone from cow milk, and caciotta made from goat milk. Buffalo are bred in Aralina.

Apelio Faterela, a spicy pasta dish topped with a sauce made of tomatoes, olives, anchovies and capers

Several different cakes and pies are made in Luria. Ponstro pie is made during Easter. Casatiello and tortano are Easter bread-cakes made by adding lard or oil and various types of cheese to bread dough and garnishing it with slices of salami. Palitto cake is a well known Lurian delicacy, best served with Rum or limoncello. It is an old Latinic cake, which arrived in Luria during the Latinic conquests and was modified to become a "walking cake" for citizens always in a hurry for work and other pursuits. Sursi is another cake from the Sacardian Coast, as is Dulatero, traditionally eaten on Saint Joseph's day. Salvalettu, little balls fried dough dipped in honey, are enjoyed during the Christmas holidays.

Dried red peppers and lemons hanging from a shop in Castra Vetera

Another popular Lurian dish is the so-called Urcean salad (which is based on similar dishes from Kiravia) made of potatoes in mayonnaise garnished with shrimp and vegetables in vinegar. Urceans call this same dish Olivier Salad, and Cartadanians call it Caphirian salad. Another Kiravian-derived dish is "gattò" (oven-baked pie made of boiled potatoes). As with the Urcean salad, Luria is home to popular seafood-based dishes, such as insalata di mare (seafood salad), zuppa di polpo (octopus soup), and zuppa di cozze (mussel soup). Other regional seafood dishes include frittelle di mare (fritters with seaweed), made with edible algae, triglie al cartoccio (red mullet in the bag), and alici marinate (fresh anchovies in olive oil). The city of Padi is known for its fish dishes, as well as for cooked rabbit. Rapini, known locally as Proprinitio are often used in the regional cooking. Luria also produces many nuts, especially in the regions of Mètuum, Sazità and Îngo. Hazelnut production is especially relevant in the region of Lui.

Contemporary and modern arts

The so-called "School of Liccio" and "School of Fazzucisi", dating from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, included painters such as Gilo Melini, Zolisi Maciusobel, Malviti, Clerra Dianaracci, and Casio of Suro.

Lurian artists, actors, playwrights, and showmen included Ocleria Vescaratino, Zinius Monoè, Caliussa D'Ardon and Berreo Paratto. Julio Bucchiproni produced Diperondà, one of the most important comedians in Luria during the 20th century.

Opera singer Vaccio Bala was also a native of Luria. In the 20th century, the music genre canticum luria (traditional Lurian music) song became popular worldwide, with songs such as "O sole mio", "Estri", "En Câmbare", "Tentero Tentero", and "Amare Eloveto".

Sports

Luria is home to several national football, water polo, volleyball, basketball and tennis clubs.

The fencing school in D'odio is the oldest in the country and the only school in Caphiria in which a swordsman can acquire the title "master of swords", which allows him or her to teach the art of fencing.

The Circolo Caviza and Canottieri Pigiambide sailing clubs are among the oldest in Caphiria and are known for their grueling regattas. These are also home of the main water polo teams in the province. Rowers Pigo Pragorcinna and Biace Apifertorio were born in Magius and are four times rowing world champions and Olympic gold medalists.