Valēka: Difference between revisions

Crime and public security challenges facing the city include its large number of potential terrorist targets, deeply entrenched organised crime syndicates, ethnic/communal and sporting rivalry violence, gang violence in the city's poorer neighbourhoods, drug and other smuggling activities and black market trade, and the presence of many political extremist groups. Valēka's organised criminal enterprises have a long history of infiltrating the city's labour unions, public services, transport and construction industries, and even political parties, making them praticularly difficult for the city government to combat effectively. The ethnically Paisonic Coscivian ''Íntudóntræ'' ("Seven Families") and the Gaelic Mob have been the dominant organised crime groups since the late {{H:title|1890s AD|21080s}}, but are now facing competition from the Stelanovian Mob, the Hardbass Mafia, the Black 47s, and the ЖЖ-10s. Valēka is a major nexus for the transnational [[Kiravian Mafia]].

==Demographics==

[[File:E60s buildings atop FDR Drive from QBB jeh.jpg|thumb|Tandhurin Island]]

   

===Ethnicity===

Valēka's religious diversity mirrors its ethnic diversity. [[Roman Catholicism|Catholicism]] is the largest religion in the city, with Jesuit and Franciscan missions in Valēka having been the Catholic Church's first inroads into Kiravia as a whole. Catholicism is the traditional religion of the Levantine, Tryhstian, Stelanovian, Cervonian, Alòxinan, Serradan, Beryllian, and Limoncellese ethnic groups, and has a minority following among many other groups. It is the largest religion among the ''Rurivem'' or ethnically undifferentiated Kiravic-speaking Coscivian population. Catholicism continues to attract many converts in Valēka through the influence of numerous schools, colleges, and charities operated by religious orders and the Archdiocese of Valēka. The Archdiocese, which covers the city itself, neighbouring County Astorin, and Holden Island, is the oldest Great Kiravian diocese in continuous operation outside the [[Tryhstian Littoral]]. The Archbishop of Valēka is nearly always named a Cardinal and is regarded as the most senior Catholic leader in the Federacy. The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Tandhurin Island is the {{wp|national shrine}} of the Kiravian Federacy.       

Other religions with a visible presence in Valēka include Islam (mainly Rumeli, Alawite, and Ibadhi, but with other sects represented as well), [[Ethnic groups in Kiravia#Kulukusi|Kulukusi]] selenolatry, Sikhism, the Bahá'í Faith, Melian Pythagoreanism, Neoplatonism, {{wp|Mandaeanism}}, {{wp|Manichaeanism}}, Welsh nationalism, and [[Church of Dodd|Pribyterianism]].

More written material is published in Valēka than any other Kiravian city, with it being home to over one thousand publishing houses of varying sizes, several university presses, and five major national newspapers: The ''[[Valēka Post]]'' (considered Kiravia's {{wp|newspaper of record}}), the ''Kiravian Times'', the ''Economic Post'', the ''Financial Post'', the ''Republican Messenger'', and the ''City Isles Report''. Despite the emergence of [[Pontevedra]] as an entertainment industry hub during the 21190s, Valēka remains the leading city in Kiravian music publishing and film distribution (especially film imports), and web content development.

==Culture==

The Port of Valēka is the Federacy's largest passenger port, largest international port by volume, and second-largest port by overall cargo volume following the Port of [[Saar-Silverda]]. More foreign goods enter Kiravia at Valēka than anywhere else.

==Points of Interest==

*'''Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help''' - Roman Catholic {{wp|National shrine|national shrine}} of the Kiravian Federacy and seat of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Valēka. Located in Tandhurin, it is the largest Catholic church in the city. It was built in 211XX in an Urcean-inspired Neo-Byzantine and Neo-Romanesque style, and is known for its elaborate mosaīcs, statuary, and impedimenta. Coscivian Rite, Latin Rite, and Greek Rite services are all held regularly in the Basilica and its numerous side chapels, and its breathtaking Vespers service draws attendees from all religious backgrounds.

*'''Maritime Sailors' Cathedral''' - An interdenominational, multilingual Christian church in the Seaport West district, serving sailors and travellers of diverse nationalities. Services are offered in Kiravic, High Coscivian, [[Sorrentian Latin|Latin]], [[Lebhan language|Lebhan]], [[Burgundian language|Burgundine]], English, Gaelic, Portuguese, Lornish, Gothic, Italian, Slavonic, Punic, Welsh, and Greek.

===Economic===

*'''[[IFMS|Interbank Financial Messaging System]] Central Nexus''' - Interbank transfer system, network infrastructure located in West Valēka.

*'''Kevretin & Company''' - High-end department store located in Uptown.

*'''Empire Brewery''' - Flagship brewery of Empire Brewing SAK, the largest independent brewery in Kiravia, most notable for its stouts and porters. The brewery offers tours and tastings to visitors, and ranks among the city's top tourist attractions.

*'''Global Business Park''' - Office complex constructed in the early 21190s as a joint Federal-Kiygravan-Valēkan project to attract foreign trade and capital to the city. Today the complex's tenants include a wide variety of Kiravian and foreign (particularly Levantine and Hekuvian) firms, most of which are involved in international commerce and high finance.

*'''University of Valēka''' - The second-oldest university in Kiravia and one of the most prestigious in the country. UV's main campus is located on the north end of Ansalon, but the university owns sattelite campuses, freestanding buildings, and rental properties throughout the city.

*'''Agnālion University''' - Nonsectarian private university located on Tandhurin Island.

*'''Universitas Codicis''' - (Kiravic: ''Wordforuniversity Wordforcodex'') Literary and scientific academy established by the [[Burgundie#Oligarchiam_grammaticorum|Oligarchia Grammaticorum]] (Kiravic: ''Lektriguv Saxdarurskya''), with links to similarly affiliated institutions in Burgundie, Heku, and Paulastra. Located on Tandhurin Island.

*'''Kirav Wesleyan University''' - The oldest and best-known Protestant university in Kiravia, located in West Valēka.

*'''Valēka Economic Institute''' - Graduate institution dedicated to high-level economics research and instruction, located in the Vansaten district of Ansalon.

*'''St. Serapion University''' - Coscivian Orthodox university located in Canova.

*'''First National University''' - Formed as an abortive effort at founding a national university under the X administration, the college was later privatised and is now operated by an ecumenical Christian trust.

*'''New Retua University''' - Closely adhering to the educational models of the earliest Coscivian universities, NRU serves a primarily Paisonic Coscivian student body and uses a traditional register of High Coscivian as its medium of instruction. It is noted for its large collection of ancient Coscivian texts, art, and artifacts.

*'''Ûverna Pedagogical Formatory''' - One of the nation's leading {{wp|normal schools}} and centres of education research.

*'''Valēka State University''' - Located on Sardēmur Island

*'''Valēka City College System''' - Operates the city's network of {{wp|community colleges}}, with one campus in each canton.

===Cultural===

*'''Metropolitan Museum of Coscivian Art''' - The largest single art museum in the Coscivian World by collection size and annual attendence, the MMCA curates and showcases over 20,000 years of Coscivian and Cosco-Adratic art, from Ancient ʔptovi funerary urns to 21170s Synæsthetic Realist tryptychs. In addition to a few items of extreme significance on permanent display, the MMCA has standing exhbitions dedicated to the First Imperial, Inter-Imperial, Second Imperial, Third Imperial, and early Post-Imperial artistic periods with a regularly rotating inventory. Temporary and visiting exhibitions draw on the collections of other institutions across the Coscivian world, documenting more recent and regionally- or ethnically-specific contributions to Coscivian art.

*'''Æran Open Theatrical Garden''' - Membership society that hosts theatrical productions selected trimonthly from some 200 submissions. Admission to the theatrical performances is generally free, and the society finances itself through the sale of balcony seats, admission fees for musical, dance, and lecture events, and rental of the space for events. The IOTG tends to attract the best new and independent playwrights, and is regarded as being a major portal for underground writers and actors entering the mainstream.  Because of its comparatively limited backstage infrastructure and 360-degree stage setup, the Garden hosted many works by pioneers of dramatic monologue and one-man theatre, subgenres which have since become a distinctive presence in Kiravian theatre.

*'''Great Library of Valēka''' - The largest extant library in the Coscivian world, containing over 540,000,000 physical items, including books, periodicals, film, sound recordings, and other materials in an estimated 970 languages. Though it is neither a {{wp|legal deposit}} library nor a {{wp|national library}} (both titles belong to the Federal Library in Kartika), it is the Federacy's leading research library and is used extensively by historians, philologists, jurists, linguists, and other scholars from across the Federacy and beyond.  

*'''Institute for the Cultivation of Classical Adraïan''' - A linguistic, philological, and epigraphic institution devoted to the study of the Classical Adraïan language, the oldest language of [[Coscivian civilisation]]. The institute houses a corpus of some eight-thousand documents, epigraphs, inscriptions, engravings, and pottery shards, and publishes the Authoritative Dictionary of Classical Adraïan and the Journal of Adratic Philology.

==See Also==