Great Kirav
| Area | 10,801,735 km² |
|---|---|
| Population | 10.3 billion |
| Population density | 953.55 |
| Demonym | Kiravite, Great Kiravian |
| Countries |  Kiravian Federacy |
| Time zones | Valēka Standard Time (IST -0:30) |
| Internet TLD | .gk |
| Largest cities | Valēka Saar-Silverda Escarda |
Great Kirav (Kiravic: Ambrix Kiravia, Ambrikiravia) is an island continent in the region of Ixnay, located northeast of Levantia, north of the Sea of Odoneru, and west of Crona. The entirety of its landmass is governed by the Kiravian Federacy, a pluricontinental federation of which Great Kirav constitutes the historic, cultural, and economic heartland.
Terminology
Until about the 21040s, the island continent was simply referred to as Kiravia, a name derived from the Kiygrava River where Coscivian explorers established their first permanent presence on the continent. As the era of Kiravian overseas expansion beginning in 20919 matured and the Kiravian settler colonies were admitted to the Federacy as full states, the need to distinguish between the Kiravian Federacy as a whole and the island continent in particular arose, leading many authors to add the honorific Ambrix ("Great", "noble") to the name.
Residents of Great Kirav are usually called Kiravites (Kiravic: Kiraviēxtya) rather than Great Kiravians, though the latter term has seen some use. People from Great Kirav who no longer live there, especially first-generation colonists in the Federacy's overseas possessions, are called Kiraviēþûrix ("Kiravborn") or iodevalōmax ("islocontinental").
Kiravians often refer to Grat Kirav as iodevalōma ("the island-continent"), hátilōma ("the mainland"), or brôdalōma ("the homeland").
In both political/cultural and geographic/geological contexts, the term "Great Kirav" includes both the main landmass of the island continent and the adjacent islands.
Geoschemes
The question of where Great Kirav belongs in various divisions of Ixnay into continent-based regions has varying answers and is often a matter of contention.
The most common understanding among Kiravians is that Great Kirav, as an island continent, should not be grouped together as part of either Levantia or Crona. Most maps and globes produced for the Kiravian market reflect this understanding, and either label Great Kirav as a continent in its own right or do not make any effort to link it to the neighbouring landmasses. Many well-regarded atlases and international organisations, respecting this position, present Great Kirav as part of an Arcto-Kiravian region alongside the Arctic nations of Zwallerkad and Helvianir. The Arcto-Kiravian classification has been used by the Kiravian government in a number of contexts, and is seen as being the most inoffensive and politically-neutral option. There is, however, some resistance to linking Great Kirav with Arctic nations, primarily along the North Coast where centuries of conflict between the Cosco-Celtic inhabitants and Arctic Germanic peoples has left the populace averse to any association with the Germanic countries across the Coscivian Sea.
Kiravians living on the eastern seaboard, particularly in and around major coastal cities such as Valēka, Béyasar, Eriadun, Primóra, and Kartika, have long maintained close economic ties and cultural correspondence with Levantia, and have long envisioned Great Kirav as being a component of either Levantia or a "Greater Levantian" region. The northeastern seaboard's large population and outsized influence on Kiravian politics, business, and mass media does much to promote the idea of a Greater Levantian identity for Great Kirav. This placement appears in school textbooks in Fariva, the Tryhstian Littoral, and Ilánova.
In recent decades, the idea of Great Kirav as part of Crona or a "Greater Cronan" region has rapidly gained currency. This view has been historically strongest in Æonara, which is indisputably part of the Cronan continent and separate from Great Kirav, and enjoyed some popularity on the Kiravian western seaboard. This placement is justified in part by cultural affinity with the fellow Coscivian country of Umcara and the Celtic and Celtic-influenced nations of Alba and Pauldustllah, and has been informally endorsed by the Kiravian government to a certain extent to support its involvement in continental organisations such as the Cronan Unified Defence Agreement and Crono-Kiravian Open Commerce Agreement.
Geography
Great Kirav is an island continent located in the upper temperate latitudes of Ixnay. Temperate mixed forest and Coniferous forest are the native vegetation across most of the landmass, though extensive areas have been cleared for cultivation over the centuries.
Topographically, key features of Great Kirav include...
Cultural Regions
Northern Fringe
North Coast, Hockey Belt
The Northern Fringe extends along the Coscivian Sea coast of Great Kirav from Mariava (where it overlaps with Zone B) to Devalōmara, and is generally held to extend roughly 2-4 countyships inland along this span, depending on longitude, before merging into the Mid-Continental region. The climate of the North Coast is cold and harsh, classified as cool continental or subarctic in some places and subpolar oceanic in others, particularly islands like Tharvia. The ecologically hemiboreal belt stretching across northern Great Kirav is roughly coëxtensive with the cultural transition zone between the North Coast and Mid-Continental areas.
The long-established Coscivian inhabitants of the Northern Fringe are known as Arnórian Coscivians. Arnórian Coscivians remain the majority or plurality group in most countyships on the Northern Fringe, and residents of other ethnic backgrounds have come to adopt much of Arnórian culture and even partially assimilate into an Arnórian identity.
Cuisine: Potato, fish, oats Alcohol: Spruce ales, heather ales, whiskey, akvavít, gin
As the climate of the North Coast is not suitable for the cultivation of hops, residents have traditionally flavoured their beer using a variety of other botanicals, most prominently spruce or pine buds and heather. These techniques persisted even after the establishment of reliable trading networks made hops from the southern East Highlands available to North Coast settlements, and the region's spruce and heather ales continue to be produced in the style of the early pioneers.
Zone B1 - Northeast
The smallest cultural region, encompassing Fariva and Axóléga (with the exception of Åstor Island), and extending into southestern Serikorda, the Northeast has its roots in the early Coscivian settlements that took root around Fariva Bay. This region was settled heavily by Taństem Coscivians, who remain the majority in Axóléga and rural parts of Fariva and southeast Serikorda, and continue to dominate the region politically and culturally.
Cuisine: Potato, dairy/cream/related products, lots of boilage, seafood Alcohol: Elderberry ale..., cider, whiskey, gin
Zone B2 - Far Northeast
Also called the "Gaelic Northeast" (Gélax Tuśkíarþa), this region is the heartland of Gaelic culture in Kiravia. It is generally held to include all of the Gaelic-majority states of the Far Northeastern peninsula - Mariava, Dunlévia, Arkelly, Kintær, and {Potatostan}, as well as Ilánova and Irovasdra, and northern Serikorda. There is no clear boundary between the Gaelic Northeast and the Eastern Highland cultural region, but rather a transitional zone that spreads across upland Kiygrava and Arkvera.
Cuisine: Potato, dairy, oats, lots of boilage, seafood on the sea, more potato. Same as B1, but with more oats. Alcohol: Scotch ale, Red ale, Heather ale, cider, WHISKEY. Mostly same as B1.
Zone C - Mid-Oceanic
The Mid-Oceanic cultural region extends from southwest Serikorda and Middle Kiygrava through Róvidrea and Lower Kiygrava, Niyaska, Etivéra, and Váuadra, down to the northern fringes of Hanoram in the south. It is bounded by the Eastern Highlands to the west and the sea to the East; corresponding to the core territory controlled by the United Provinces during the Viceregal Period. It encompasses the Valēka Metropolitan Area (Kiravia's largest), as well as the Eriadun Metropolitan Area and numerous smaller cities. The Mid-Oceanic is the cradle of the Kiravic Coscivian language.
Investor-farmer class
Alcohol: Porters and stouts
Zone D - Mid-Continental
Midlands
Alcohol: Red ales, pale ales, whole bunch of others
Zone E - Greater Farravonia
Greater Farravonia encompasses the three states that were once departments of Farravonia Territory: Cascada, Ilfenóra, and Metrea; as well as Argévia and the southern portions of Venèra.
The most spoken languages in Greater Farravonia are the West Coast Marine Coscivian dialect continuüm, which is spoken by communities near the ocean and in the Coastal Ranges, and Serradan Coscivian, which is spoken in the areas between the Coast Ranges and the Western Highlands. Kiravic Coscivian is the main language of daily life in most large urban areas.
Zone F - West-by-Northwest
WNW Great Kirav is bounded roughly by the Swadesh River in the east - where it blends into Mid-Continental Kirav, the Miradèt Desert in the South, and the Western Highlands in the west. It is divisible into three subregions: The Far Northwest, Insular Northwest, and the Premontane West.
Significant cities in WNW Kirav include Kilgariv, Peśara, Tetraliþa, and Togistàra.
South Kirav
South Kirav, which by some definitions also includes the Míhanska Bay region (see below), is one of the most distinctive cultural and geographic regions of Great Kirav, with a very strong regional identity and well-defined culture. Due to its more level terrain and mild climate, South Kirav has long been the country's breadbasket. South Kiravian society is agrarian and traditional, and has been described as "pre-modern" or even "quasi-feudal" in many respects.
During the Great Crossing, South Kirav received very few Coscivian immigrants, mainly because of the domination of its economy by large, entailed estates reliant on forms of indentured labour and quasi-serfdom. Immigrants were instead attracted to the northern and central regions of the country, where agricultural land was poorer in quality but easier to obtain, and where labour relations were more liberal. As a result, South Kirav is much less ethnically diverse than the rest of the continent, with a majority of people in Issyria, Andrēdan, and Valtéra reporting "South Kiravian" as their primary or sole ethnic identity. Nonetheless, there are lower-order tuvî and subgroups within the South Kiravian people, often associated with particular regions, occupational roles in the traditional agrarian economy, distant ethnic origins, or religious/sectarian affiliations.
South Kiravian cuisine is often regarded as superior to cooking styles from other parts of the island continent, even by many residents of said other regions, due to its greater diversity of ingredients and richer flavours. Caphirian Kiravian cuisine is derived primarily from South Kiravian cuisine.
In addition to fieldball (or "Kiravian-rules football"), which is shared with he rest of the Federacy and is wildly popular in the South (especially at the collegiate, minor-league, and semi-pro levels, as most major professional teams are located in Northern, Eastern, and Western cities), South Kiravians have taken up Urcean sports such as baseball and basketball. However, South Kirav is most notable for its interest in a variety of "country sports", many of which have pre-modern, feudal/aristocratic, agricultural, and rural/folk associations. These include archery and other hunting-related sports, horsemanship, jousting and other combat sports, cheese-rolling, and cornhole. The South has a much stronger bench in such sports than other parts of the Federacy, and athletes representing Kiravia in international competitions for these sports are usually either Southerners or Southern-trained.
Many Hekuvian Coscivians, especially those descended from earlier waves of Coscivian migration to Caphiria, trace their ancestral roots to South Kirav. In recognition of this, Hekuvian Coscivians often refer to themselves as Déśkéx Kiravikuya ("Southern-er Kiravians"), the comparative form of Déśkix Kiravikuya ("Southern Kiravians"). Hekuvian Coscivian writers have often noted similarities between the highly stratified, class-conscious, and aristocratic characteristics of South Kiravian society and that of Caphiravian society.
Míhanska Bay
The Míhanska Bay region comprises the non-highland areas of Hanoram and Ventarya. Historically, the District of Coīnvra also had a Míhanska Bay culture, but mass migration to the Federal capital has left Kartika with a unique blend of cultural influences, among which Mid-Oceanic, Mid-Continental, and Farravonian mores overshadow those of the Mínhanska Bay.
Zone H - Eastern Highlands
The Eastern Highlands (Kiravic: Érþaixtilōma) cultural region encompasses the Aterandic Mountains, their foothills, and some adjacent lowland areas.
Settled by groups of Coscivians (especially Ĥeldican Coscivians), Gaels, and Prythons who intermarried extensively with the local aboriginal population...
During the later colonial period and the viceregal period, the Eastern Highlands - even those parts formally within the borders of established Cosco-Kiravian states or Gaelic kingdoms - remained largely outside the control of any lowland government. Instead, political order was provided by a complex and often overlapping assortment of chiefdoms, clan- and tribe-based polities, self-governing direct-democratic villages, and small mountaineer republics. This long history of self-reliance and independence from central authorities has engendered a lasting libertarian political streak in the region's culture.
The Eastern Highlands also have a strong penchant for religious independence. Excepting the Insular Apostolic Church, which is the largest individual denomination in most East Highland areas, the major Christian churches dominant in other parts of Great Kirav (e.g. Roman Catholic, Coscivian Orthodox) are markedly less influential in the Highlands. Instead, the Highlands are home to a number of more congregational and connexional denominations, such as the Discipular Church and the Mountain Quakers in Íarthakelva state, informal house churches and "clearing churches" without any organisational structure, and a large number of heterodox sects, many of which are considered outright heretical by mainstream churches. Some of the more notable heterodox denominations include the Catholic-Apostolic Church of the Father, Christ, and Melchizadek (Kaþolix-Áspaldix Æglasta Þíarnastursk us Xrístul us Melxisadesk) and the Triclavian Orthodox Church of Ateranda. It is believed that some of the more exotic quasi-Christian sects found in the highlands arose from the syncretism of Christianity with Aboriginal belief systems and the Christianisation of Aboriginal deities.
Zone I - Western Highlands
Alcohol: Lagers
Zone J - South-Central
Also known as 'Deep Inland Kirav', South-Central Kirav is a vaguely defined region that stretches from the southwestern foothills of the Aterandic Mountains to the Miradèt Desert along its east-west axis, extending from southern Kannur and Avidrona in the north to the northernmost peripheries of Andrēdan, Issyria, Valtéra, and Korlēdan in the south. It blends into and overlaps heavily with South Kirav, Mid-Continental Kirav, and the Premontane West, so much that Kiravians do not consider South-Central Kirav a true cultural region in its own right, and it is often omitted from books and papers on this topic. Yet residents of the region insist that
South-Central Kirav has a large Aboriginal population, as well as many Coscivians with substantial Aboriginal ancestry. Some of the largest Aboriginal tribes, including the X, Y, and Z, are native to the area, and Aboriginal influence on the culture of the region at large is conspicuous.
South-Central Kirav is a stronghold of adherence to the Discipular Church, a medium-seized apostolic Christian denomination with a Reconstructionist orientation and connexionalist polity that seeks to emulate what it believes are the authentic ethos and practices of the early Church. Although the movement originated in Ateranda, it spread most successfully in South-Central Kirav, and proponents of South-Central as a distinct region often point to the distribution patterns of Discipular congregations in their efforts to define the region's extent. The Discipular Church is not, however, the majority or even plurality faith in the region. Coscivian Orthodoxy is the main Christian denomination, and in addition to the Discipular Church a number of other Sectarian churches are also present. There are markedly fewer Roman Catholics and Insular Apostolics in South-Central than in other regions of the country. Followers of Coscivian religions, particularly Sarostivism, are a significant minority, and there is considerable syncretism between Coscivian Orthodoxy, Coscivian religions, and diverse folk traditions in the area.
Landlocked, thinly populated, and endowed with comparatively few natural resources, South-Central Kirav is economically underdeveloped. Lack of transport and communications infrastructure has been a major impediment to development. According to a Ykrān State University study, only 42% of rural households in four South-Central states and territories had access to the internet in 21204, with nearly all using dialup connexions. The region's economy is primarily agricultural.
Border Cities
- Béyasar - Far Northeast and Mid-Oceanic
- Escarda - Mid-Continental and North Coast
- Primóra? - Mid-Oceanic, Mid-Continental, and South Kirav
- Sarukon' - South Kirav and Western Highlands