Sarolasta

Sarolasta (Saxon: "Moonlight") is a theme of the Kiravian Federacy comprising an island chain south of Crona in the Polynesian Sea, centred on the main island of Grand Sarolasta and including five smaller island groups to its north and south.

Sarolasta
Flag
Country	Kiravian Federacy
Capital	Sarolasdra
Population	Q,XYZ,000
President	D.H. Fanakatin
Chair of the Council	A.D. Vikontarév
Stanora seats	23
Official languages	High Coscivian
Postal Abbreviation	N/A

Geography

Sarolasta comprises 25 major islands and hundreds of lesser islets and atolls too small to appear on most world maps, most of which are not permanently inhabited but may be visited by humans for traditional ritual or fishing purposes, or for military, meteorological, or conservation activities. The islands are delimited into five cardinal island groups (deva-èsoxoron), listed below in order from north to south:

• Sarao (Saraö) - Four major islands
• Marian Isles (Varyaīonya) - Twelve major islands, subdivided among three subgroups
• Grand Sarolasta (Ambrisarolastaīon) - By far the largest and most populated and developed island, with outlying satellite islets
• Songva-Ngatra (Songva-Ēngatra) - Group of four major islands directly south of Grand Sarolasta's Tarunua Peninsula
• Katorue (Katoruév) - Remote group of three major islands far to the southeast of Songva, with which it is culturally and historically associated.

The archipelago spans approximately 1,430 miles (1,243 nautical miles) from north to south. This is roughly equivalent to the distance from the southernmost point of Great Kirav at Point Prevalka to Glenross, Devahoma.

Straddling the equator, the entire archipelago has a tropical maritime climate, with high temperatures and heavy precipitation year-round. It is well-within the hurricane belt, and cyclonic tropical storms are a major natural hazard.

Provinces

Flag	Classification	Subject name	Island Group	Capital	Population (2030 Census)
	Overseas State	Rakitea	Grand Sarolasta	Alofasar	1,984,000
	Overseas Territory	Central Sarolasta	Grand Sarolasta	Sarolasdra	1,984,000
	Overseas Territory	Tanimbar	Grand Sarolasta	Saar-Kírūra	1,984,000
	Overseas State	Leviti	Grand Sarolasta	WIIC City	1,984,000
	Overseas Territory	Tarunua	Grand Sarolasta	Krak des Cheveaux	1,984,000
	Overseas State	Songva-Ngatra	Songva-Ngatra	Halotisar	1,984,000
	Overseas Territory	Katorue	Katorue	Taigovæloa	1,984,000
	Overseas Territory	Marian Isles	Marian Isles	Nív-Vincentius	1,984,000
	Overseas Territory	Sarao	Sarao	Ngatra	1,984,000

History

Pre-Colonial

The islands that would become Sarolasta began to be populated by ancient Polynesians around 2400 BC. Racially and ethnolinguistically, the first wave of Polynesian settlers were of Little Polynesian stock. They were later partially displaced by a second wave of Greater Polynesian stock migrating out from what is now Stenza around 1450 BC. Greater Polynesians would conquer and settle primarily in modern-day Svonga-Ngatra, Tarunua, and Leviti State, and explorers from Svonga-Ngatra would later sail south to colonise the remote Katorue archipelago.

Colonial

In 1584 AD, the Imperial Bank of Kintær's Austral Ocean Armada under the command of Levar Trimartolon anchored at Kapenga Island in modern-day [island group/state name TBD], lingering for several weeks to make repairs, replenish supplies, and sample the local flavours. Trimartolon claimed Kapenga for the Marble Emperor but did nothing to secure this claim before continuing on his journey. Over the next several decades, further Kiravian expeditions were dispatched to the archipelago. Samarius Tulorikvan led an expedition that visited Leviti and Tarunua in 1590. Kiravian colonisation of Sarolasta began in earnest in 1592 AD with the construction of a stockade by Ivo Siguatera on the site of modern-day Kanoka Point.

Sunderance

After the Socialist victory in the Kiravian Civil War, Sarolasta remained in the hands of the Federalists and would form part of the Kiravian Remnant. Orthodox Marxism and Kirosocialism, with their urban-industrial proletarian focus and anticlerical tendencies, never caught on in the Catholic agrarian archipelago. However, in its weakened state the Federalist government of the Remnant feared that anti-colonial nationalism, liberation theology, and the designs of rival colonial powers threatened its control of Sarolasta. Sarolasta was now more important to the Kiravian overseas network than ever before: After Æonara and Kiravian Cusinaut, it was the Remnant's third most populous region, held important natural resources, and helped strategically maintain communications with Cusinaut and the Saxalins. The need to bolster Sarolastans' loyalty to the rump Federacy formed the impetus behind the Sarolasta Reform Act, which transformed the position of the Sarolastan provinces from a subordinate colonial relationship to one of integration into the National patrimony. Colonial governments were semi-democratised, greater authority was devolved to the provincial and local levels, a schedule for the admission of the larger provinces as full states of the Federacy was set. Perhaps most interestingly, the Act directed the Prime Executive to exercise Imperial prerogative in order to declare the majority of the native population as Coscivians. That is to say that native tribes who practiced monogamy and monotheism and adopted the Four Rites and Four Precepts were to be reclassified as Coscivian tuva. Their chiefs would be recognised as vassals of the Marble Emperor, and they would be enrolled in one of the Seven Nations and become Kotakoskem. The Act also removed a number of legal disabilities applied to the remaining non-Coscivian native populations.

Politics & Governance

Sarolasta is one of five themes of the Kiravian Federacy, the alongside the Kiravian Federal Republic, Lesser Kirav, Sydona, the Melian Isles, and the Overseas Regions. The states and territories that make up Sarolasta have, by compact, created a Commonwealth Council and President of the Commonwealth to exercise thematic functions. The Commonwealth Council comprises the ranking members of the state and territorial legislatures, as well as [relevant subset of cabinet officials]. The President of the Commonwealth is elected by [the Nigerian system] every 42 months and has some *pro forma* duties regarding the certification of electoral votes and thematic resolutions, in addition to serving as a public advocate for the people of Sarolasta.

Due to its strong adherence to Catholicism and demand for higher social spending and development aid, Sarolasta is a stronghold for the Caritist Social Union in elections to the Stanora, often electing candidates of a pronounced Social Christian ideological bent that reinforce the fiscal left wing of the caucus.

Society & Culture

The majority of the Sarolastan population is of indigenous Austronesian stock with some degree of Éorsan Coscivian admixture. 25-32% are fully or primarily of Éorsan Coscivian ancestry. There are many specific kolakoskem ethnicities formed by intermarriage between one Coscivian subgroup and one indigenous people, in a fascinating confluence of the Coscivian tuva system with indigenous tribal networks. The largest of these hybrid communities are the Paisonic-Aymang and Paisonic-Ailmao. The Éorsan Coscivian contribution to the Sarolastan cultural mélange is provided mainly by Paisonic, Lusan, Kastrovan, Eskean, Tebnan, Kerēgulan, Vèuskan, [the usual seafaring groups], Æonaran/Umcaran, and Westcoastmarine/Serradan Coscivians. There is also a degree of Tierradorean admixture in some kolakoskem populations.

There is a significant minority of Daxian and mixed Daxian-Polynesian descent.

1,896 ethnic Loa belonging to the Uelamanpu'ue Clan live in Sarolasta, mostly in Leviti.

Sarolasta harbours a singificant share of the Polynesian Sea Muslim diaspora.

During the exile period, the Federalist government implemented major reforms on Sarolasta to prevent rebellion. This included recognising all native and miscegenated communities practicing monotheism, monogamy, tuva, and [other key Coscivian hallmarks] as Coscivians and inviting their customary kings and chieftains to pledge fealty to the Basswood Emperor.

[Leftover minorities from other nations’ colonisation attempts?]

[Languages] [Creole languages]

76% of Sarolastans adhere to the Catholic Church, overwhelmingly to the Coscivian Rite. Minority Christian sects include the Coscivian Orthodox and Independent Orthodox churches, Æglasta-i-Xristul, and Mormonism. Some Kastrovans and Kastrovan-Kolakoskem are Insular Apostolic. Among the Farakoskem population there are minorities adhering to Ruricanism, Iduanism, and Komarism.

Sarolasta has a multiethnic Muslim community that includes Kebavem (Coscivian Muslims), Loa Muslims, members of the Polynesian Sea Muslim diaspora, and several dozen families of Zhuhen Daxian origin.

Social Organisation

The Polynesian population of Sarolasta maintains a fairly standard system of kinship, tribalism, and chieftaincy similar to other indigenous peoples of the region. The native system of tribes and chiefdoms has been partially absorbed into the Coscivian tuva system among those communities who were naturalised during the mid-20th century pursuant to the Sarolasta Reform Act.

Cuisine

Breadfruit or "tree potato"

Taro

Purple yam

The cuisine of Sarolasta remains fundamentally and predominantly Polynesian in character, with moderate influence from Farakoskix, Daxian, and Vallote cuisine.
The staples of the Sarolastan diet are starchy tropical fruits and roots - chiefly breadfruit, known to Coscivians as errūēln or "tree potato", as well as taro, the charismatic purple yam, and coconut - alongside the main sources of protein, which are pork and (of course) seafood. This nutritional base is supplemented by greens, a wide variety of tropical fruits (including pineapple, mango, banana, eddoes, dragonfruit, and papaya), spices, and rice (mainly imported). Many of these essential foodstuffs are fermented or dried for preservation. Cooking traditionally takes place over an open flame or in an earth oven, though in modern times Coscivian=style charcoal stoves and modern gas-electric appliances are increasingly utilised.

Sport

Least athletic Sarolastan

Gridiron football is extremely popular in Sarolasta, and is played nigh-universally among males at every level from beachside pickup games to professional play. Sundays in Sarolasta revolve around Mass, large picnic lunches prepared by and enjoyed among extended families, and pro football. The archipelago is an enormous bench of talent, providing many players to professional leagues in Æonara, the Kiravian Mainland, and Tierrador. A regional professional league, the Football Championship of Sarolasta (FCS) meets the demand for high-quality ball in Sarolasta and its games are well-attended, though it is considered inferior to its counterparts in larger Kiravian regions, as the best Sarolasta-bred players tend to gravitate toward those leagues in search of better opportunities and higher salaries. Two college football leagues, the Landgrant League (made up of state universities) and the Catholic Collegiate League (made up of Catholic universities), play on Saturdays and are considered near-peers to the FCS.

Other sports populat in Sarolasta include rugby and more rugby.

Kava

Kava culture is widespread in Sarolasta and is an important element of native community life, conserved even among the more thoroughly Coscivised segment of the native population.

Economy

Sarolasta has a middle-income, newly-industrialising emerging market economy. With the passage of the Common Market (Sarolasta) Act of 2024, the provinces of the Sarolastan theme form a single market with one another. Due to its special development needs, Sarolasta is administered as a distinct customs territory from the main Kiravian Customs Area (which encompasses the Federation, South Kirav, Èusa, and Atrassica). Although it is the least-developed part of the Kiravian Federacy, it has a stronger growth prospectus than many struggling industrial and agricultural provinces in Second and Third Kirav.

Brain drain of educated Sarolastan professionals to other Kiravian regions and abroad has been a major drag on the region's economic development. This is a particularly visible phenomenon in the medical field: In Cascada State, Sarolastan-born residents account for 9.12% of registered nurses and 23.46% of licensed physician's assistants, but only 2.52% of the total population. To mitigate this, the Sarolastan provinces and members of the Federal Stanora are working toward a programme that will expand tuition subsidies in certain technical fields at Sarolastan public universities, contingent upon students' commitment to work only in the Sarolastan theme for 10 years or else repay the cost of their education.

Fisheries

Fishing has been crucial to livelihood of this island region from the arrival of the first Austronesian settlers to the rise of modern mechanised pelagic trawling.