Enscirya
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Enscirya is a province and state of the Kiravian Federacy that encompasses most of the Ĥeir Highlands of inland Northeast Kirav, centred on the Ensciryan Massif. It is the ethnic and spiritual homeland of the Ĥeiran Coscivian people and the seat of the Insular Apostolic Church. Although a relative backwater in terms of economic and political importance for most of it history, Enscirya today is known as still a fricking backwayer. However, nonwithstanding its poverty, it is a major cultural, intellectual, and religious centre that has contributed immensely to the cultural heritage of Kiravia.
| Civil & Ecclesiastical Commonwealth of Enscirya ꀋ ꀡꁂꁡꂀ ꂛ ꂸ ꃔꃭ ꄊꄤꅀꅚ ꅳ ꆆꆡ ꇂ ꇥꈂ ꈝ ꈵ ꉑꉣ ꉴꊃꊗ Astrolix us Æglastax Lódrikéarita Enśkiryá | |
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| Country | Kiravian Federacy |
| Capital | Era |
| Population | 5,454,235 |
| State President | Finn Cléigan |
| Chancellor | Pádrek Erinohonan |
| Legislature | Congress |
| Stanora seats | 3 |
| Official languages | Classical Ensciryan Great Ensciryan Phrydhian-Kernan Kiravian Gaelic |
| Recognised languages | Kastrovan Coscivian Fenian Kiravic Coscivian Sign Language |
| State church | Insular Apostolic Church |
| Postal Abbreviation | ENŚ |
| Time Zone | Valēka Standard Time |
Enscirya is known as a cold, damp, windswept land of striking natural beauty but supbar conditions for human habitation. Its mountainous landscape is marked by treeless alpine meadows and alpine tundra, peat-rich bogs and mires, subalpine forests and wooded vales, and numerous lakes.
Geography
In contrast to neighbouring lowland states, both highland and lowland, large swathes of upland Enscirya are naturally unforested montane meadowland, and many naturally forested areas have been cleared by denizens for rangeland and cropland. In recent decades, the state government has undertaken reforestation initiatives to combat soil erosion.
Feral sheep are a common sight. Many went feral after the sudden abandonment of Kirosocialist state-owned megaranches and no one gives enough of a crap to systematically cull their descendants.
History
Enscirya was a major centre of megalithic construction toward the close of the Kiravian Stone Age, the largest inland area of such constructions to appear during the Kiravian Megalithic. Megalithic technologies first appeared in the vicinity of Enscirya on the southern shore of Lake Shania around 4500 BC, and had spread throughout the modern territory of Enscirya by 3000 BC, leaving behind a widely distributed body of menhirs, dolmens, stone circles, kistvaens passage graves, tumuli, and statues, as well as the remains of settlements.
Governance
Enscirya is a subnational presidential republic with two legislative bodies. A corporatist upper house - comprising traditional clan chiefs, ranking bishops and arch-abbots of the Insular Apostolic Church, hexennially-elected representatives of the burghs and countyships, as well as a handful of technocratic gubernatorial appointees - has revisional powers over legislation and can veto non-fiscal legislation. A fully elected lower house with representatives from the countyships and burghs elected triennially by single transferable vote introduces legislation and approves taxation and spending through the budgetary process.
The state's executive branch is headed by the State President (Governor) who is elected every five years by alternative vote. The State President appoints an Executive College (Cabinet), which comprises the following officers:
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Public administration in Enscirya is very decentralised, with most routine functions of the state government devolved to the countyships and burghs.
Partisan politics
For historical and cultural reasons, Enscirya is a stronghold for the Federalist Republican Alliance in national elections, and its state affiliate, the Republican Party of Enscirya, is the strongest party domestically. It routinely faces challenges from parties of a Social-Christian bent and from anti-establishment populist parties that would be described as right-wing, centrist, or big-tent/catch-all in international terms. Election issues typically centre on the state's slow economic growth and related problems regarding housing, infrastructure, and public services. Subnationalism, Ĥeiran identity politics, and generalised populism further colour the state's political discourse and tend to be adopted by all candidates and parties to one extent or another.
| Party | Seats | Caucus | Platform | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican Party |
69 / 225 |
FRA | Conservative liberalism, Regionalism | |
| Apostolic Democratic Party | 48 / 225 |
CSU | Christian democracy, Social Christianity | |
| Clover Party | 32 / 225 |
KFA | Populism, Antifederalism | |
| Ensciryan Labour Party | 21 / 225 |
LFK | Organic socialism, Paternalistic conservatism | |
| Camchéachta | 5 / 225 |
Left-wing populism |
Law
Enscirya has a legal system based on Coscivian law with influence from Brehon law.
Unlike many of its neighbours, Enscirya has no seatbelt law.
Society & Culture
Ethnically, the population of Enscirya is predominantly (70.2%) Ensciryan Coscivian, with a large (22%) Celtic minority, mostly Kiravian Gaels and Fhainn. Four percent of the population belong to other ethnic groups, including Déurians, other Coscivian peoples, and Eshavians, or National Minority groups such as the Érhuans and Kópistonians. Up to a quarter of the Ĥeiran Coscivian population of the state are Féinem. Unusually for a mountainous inland state, Enscirya has no indigenous urom populations, due to the rapid spread of proto-Coscivian culture in the region during the Monumental Age.
Although the resident population of Enscirya is only 5.6 million, 9.2 million Kiravian nationals have their civil domicile registered in Ensciryan countyships. This is a result of both labour emigration by Ensciryan-born workers and the state government's outreach to the Ensciryan diaspora to form closer ties with their ancestral province.
Kastrovan Coscivian is one of the state's secondary official languages, despite being native to Farravonia and spoken by only a few hundred residents of Enscirya.
92% of the population adhere to the Insular Apostolic Church. The Insular Apostolic Church is the official state church, and is headquartered in the state. The main religious minorities are Catholics, members of the Ancient Celtic Church and Érhuan People's Church, Kaltan Iduans, and Ruricans.
Cuisine
Drinking culture
Alcoholic beverages are absolutely central to Ensciryan society and culture. The poor weather of the state and the hard-working lives of its people engendered a strong indoor culture centred on the local public house, its beverage offerings, its music and amusements, and its local camraderie. Whiskey annd beer are the most important and by far the most common alcoholic beverages consumed. Drinking games and drinking songs, as well as a rich repertoire of poems, limericks, jokes, and tales told while enjoying a round at the pub are characteristic and cherished elements of the state's culture and give life and vibrancy to what is often a dreary and miserable place.
Sports
- Drinking and fighting
- Throwing shit
- Sports with punching
Economy
Enscirya is among the poorer mainland provinces, and often ranks lowest among the full states of the Federation in terms of per capita GRP. Economic geographers place the entirety of the state in Third Kirav.
During Kirosocialism, most other poor inland provinces were saw state-directed industrial development led by state-owned extractive, processing, and manufacturing enterprises and concentrated in purpose-built monotowns. In Enscirya this was not the case, due to emnity between the Party and much of the Ensciryan population and the security threat posed by Publican insurgents. Socialist restructuring of the Ensciryan economy came mainly in the form of rural collectivisation, the consolidation of enormous state-owned ranches from parcels of confiscated rangeland, and the exploitation of new tin coal, lead, silver, and taconite iron ore deposits.
Peat is an important natural resource, providing domestic heat for >95% of rural households and 45% of urban households. Enscirya has two peat-fuelled power plants and three hybrid peat-coal plants feeding into its electrical grid. The region boasts a considerable presence of wind and hydroëlectric power projects, and the power generated from these is an important export from Enscirya to neighbouring provinces. Renewable energy plants are also an important driver of employment.
Religious pilgrimages to holy sites of the Insular Apostolic Church and heritage tourism by members of the vast Ensciryan diaspora are a critical pillar of the Ensciryan economy, especially its service sector. Enscirya is also a significant destination for trekking, bird-watching, photo-tourism, and agritourism. The state's wealth of megalithic monuments and later ruins also draw many visitors.
Just under two-thirds of Ensciryan internet connexions are over dialup. Mobile coverage across the state's territory is sparse, and in many rural areas with coverage, the quality and reliability of cell service is poor.
Agriculture remains the economic bedrock of most communities. Rocky, nutrient-poor, and poorly drained soil; a cold climate, and mountainous topography impede outputs from arable farming. Instead, animal husbandry has been the primary mode of subsistence throughout the state's history. Sheep (which outnumber humans in the state), dairy cattle, and goats are the most numerous and valuable stocks. Swine and introduced camelids from the Western Highlands are also raised. Potato is the leading crop, followed by oats, with the latter cultivated intensively in the lower valleys. Elymus ("wildrye") is also widely grown, as ar arctic brome and eclover for animal fodder. The development of paludiculture to conserve peat bogs while extracting surplus value therefrom is an emerging priority of bog landowners and the public policy community. Much of the state's agriculturally useful land is held in croft arrangements of tenure.
The forestry industry is important, with timber production and processing being key economic activities. As natural forests in the region are comparatively small and have greatly diminished since the dawn of the industrial era, all industrial forestry is plantation-based. Sustainable forestry practices are emphasised, with most plantation projects tied to participation in afforestation initiatives through regulation and state incentives. Essentially all forest products from Enscirya are classified as softwood timber. Pine fibres were once a lucrative product, but are no longer so, due to the decline of the pine flannel industry in Kiravia.
Enscirya's most lucrative industrial sector is brewing and distilling. Indeed, after desktop wallpaper, beer and whiskey are the state's leading exports. Enscirya is renowned for its rich history in the production of whiskey, an whiskeys of Ensciryan origin have achieved global acclaim. Numerous distilleries dot the landscape, producing a diverse range of spirits, each with their own unique characteristics and flavours rooted in the state's complex, altitudinally and hydrographically variegated terroir. The whisky industry in Enscirya not only generates substantial revenue, but also attracts tourism, with whiskey enthusiasts willing to travel enormous distances, even from abroad, to visit distilleries where they can witness the craftsmanship and tradition behind their preferred spirit. Beyond whiskey, Enscirya has seen a rise in craft brewing since the 2010s AD, with microbreweries producing a variety of beers that reflect both regionally-traditional and innovative approaches to brewing. For example, Enscirya is the leading producer of heather ales in the Federacy. The economic impact of the alcohol industry extends beyond the direct production of alcoholic beverages, supporting the developing local economy by generating employment opportunities - ranging from those for skilled distillers and brewers to support staff involved in distribution and marketing. Additionally, the micro- and craft brewing segment of the industry features a notable emphasis on local sourcing, with many breweries and distilleries collaborating with regional farmers and suppliers for raw materials, energising the rural economy with increased demand for the produce of small farms.
Small-scale manufacturing enterprises, such as those producing local crafts and specialty foods, contribute to the economic diversity of the state, though these are heavily dependent on tourism for sales and have limited export value.
Notable Ensciryans
Notes