Sirana

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Sirana

Țirana
City
Country Kiravian Federacy
State Central Æonara
Countyship Paramór
Population
629,616 (city proper)
6,488,634 (metro)
ClimateMesotropical subhumid

Sirana (Æonaran Coscivian: Țirana Umcaran Coscivian: Șuềrặnặ) is the largest city in Central Æonara State and the island Æonara, and the core city of the largest metropolitan area in the Kiravian Federacy outside of Great Kirav.

Now a major commercial centre, Sirana was once regarded as a second-rate port in the Cronan colonies. It rose to prominence after Capetian independence when it became a destination for Kiravian government bureaux, business interests, and wealthy loyalist emigrés formerly based in Cape Town. Similarly, with the Federalist retreat to Æonara after the Kiravian Civil War, Sirana was inundated with anti-communist refugees from the Kiravian mainland, spurring a major construction boom and placing Sirana at the centre of the Remnant's surviving capitalist economy. Sirana briefly served as the de facto capital of the Kiravian Remnant from 1935 to 1938 AD, before the seat of the Federalist government-in-exile was relocated to Vaśyansar, North Æonara.

The collapse of the Kiravian Union and consequent reunification of Kiravia caused an economic downturn in Sirana, as many major corporations and other institutions departed for liberated Mainland cities. Sirana faced serious problems with unemployment, crime, and urban decay for the first time in its history. However, during the early 21st century AD, the city's fortunes began to turn. Vastly improved economic conditions on the Mainland provided new growth opportunities for Æonara as a magnet for tourism, retirees, and rebounding creative industries, such as film and television studios.

Society & Culture

Sirana is easily the most culturally diverse city in Æonara. During the Sunderance, the city and its environs were known as a "microcosm of the Realm" because people from virtually all Kiravian regional and ethnic backgrounds had settled there in some quantity. Although this epithet is less true today than during the Sunderance due to suburbanisation and the repatriation of emigrés, the city proper has become more diverse and cosmopolitan due to a growing population of migrant workers from Cronan and Polynesian countries, and a larger presence of white-collar expatriates from Cronan and Sarpedonian countries involved in the city's business life.

[Language situation]

Catholicism has been the majority religion in Sirana for as long as systematic surveys have been conducted. Whereas the surrounding countryside was populated by Æonaran Coscivians adhering to both Coscivian Rite Catholicism and Coscivian Orthodoxy (with the balance in favour of the latter), the Sunderance emigré population was disproportionately Catholic, drawn heavily from the coastal urban bourgeoisie, the Baylands, and the West Coast Rosary Belt. Many Catholic institutions fleeing government persecution established themselves in the Sirana area. The city is the seat of the Coscivian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Crona. Migration from Sarolasta has further reïnforced the Catholic majority in recent decades.

Sirana has, in all likelihood, the largest M'acunist population in the Kiravian Federacy[1], presumably concentrated among the labour migrant and guest worker populations, which are difficult to survey. An ordinance prohibiting animal sacrifice in the city's drainage canals was challenged in the Federal Consistory case Yičxa v. Greater Sirana Water Control District, with the Consistory ruling in favour of Yičxa.

The Church of Negative Growth, colloquially known as "Coconut Man Faith", has a congregation registered in Tākapuna Gardens with one cleric and one congregant, likely the same person.

Government

Sirana has a strong provost-council government.

Sirana is one of the very few major metropolitan core cities where the local Shaftonist-Republican Alliance affiliate is a political contender. Although the Renaissance Party's strength in Sirana proper has diminished considerably sine the 1980s AD, largely due to suburbanisation, the city has elected Renaissance provosts twice in the past 20 years. The main beneficiary of the Renaissance Party's local decline has been the Christian Democratic Party, a CSU state affiliate, which has been the leading faction in Sirana politics since Reunification. The SDKF was founded in Sirana, and retains a strong organisational presence and reliable voter base in the city. SDKF provosts were elected in 1990, 1993, 1996, and 2014.

Economy

Sirana has the largest municipal economy in Kiravian Crona, well-ahead of its nearest rival, Érskinsar.

Notable business enterprises located in Sirana or its suburbs include:

Points of Interest

  • Imperial Gardens -
  • St. Anakostia Cathedral -

Notable Residents

  • Xentkáus Ankama - Former Lieutenant Executive for Mainland Affairs, notable for having at one point served as nominal Governor of all Mainland territories simultaneously.
  • Tellestur Syroven - Former Ambassador to the League of Nations, second cousin of Xentkáus Ankama.
  • Lil' Dynamite ft. Lil' Gun - Iconic 1990s AD rap duo
  • Hekutonic - Two piece disco act known for becoming a one hit wonder in 1982 AD. Both members were raised in Sirana by Hekuvian Coscivians from Caphiria.

Notes

  1. Though not the largest in the Kiravian Collectivity, which includes mainland Cronan territories where M'acunism is widespread.