Verastia Territory: Difference between revisions

The population of Verastia Territory is estimated to be 54% Aboriginal, 44% Coscivian, and 2% Celtic. A large percentage of the Coscivian population is of partial Aboriginal descent, and a smaller (but still significant) percentage of the “urbanised” Aboriginal population has Coscivian ancestry. Due to the strongly patrilocal and patrilineal nature of Coscivian culture, mixed persons with Coscivian fathers are considered Coscivians themselves, whereas those with Aboriginal fathers are not. As such, there are some Verastians of predominantly Aboriginal descent who consider themselves Coscivians and are accepted as such. Doubts have been raised as to how effective the Kiravian Census has been at enumerating the Aboriginal population, as many Aboriginal settlements are remote, reclusive, difficult to access due to terrain and/or weather, or even uncharted.  

The largest Aboriginal group, the Ankhul, are indigenous to the territory’s lower elevations, traditionally inhabiting the Shalluk Valley and its larger side-valleys. Because their territory includes the areas most heavily colonised by Coscivians, Ankhul form the bulk of the “urban” Aboriginal population, and most of the mixed population is of Ankhul descent. The Lishku tribe...

A small, isolated band of Aboriginals may be living  near a small, extremely inaccessible glacial lake in the Northwest Countyship, according to three eyewitness reports from helicopter pilots who flew through the vicinity during the 21170s.  If so, these Aboriginals would be the last remaining {{wp|uncontacted people}} in Great Kirav. The Federal Land Administration, which owns the land, has since instituted a moratorium on helicopter flights through the area, which was already off-limits to visitors for safety reasons.

Verastia is one of the few federal subjects where Christians are a minority. The Coscivian population is 55% Christian, 31% affiliated with Coscivian religions, and 14% of other persuasions, including deism, ietsism, and nontheistic worldviews. Just under half of the enumerated Aboriginal population is Christian (~90% Catholic and ~10% Reformed Orthodox), with the rest recorded under codes P-88 “Northwest Highlands Aboriginal Orolatry” or P-90X “Urom Beliefs - Not Otherwise Specified”, or as having no religion in particular. The unenumerated Aboriginal population is assumed to hold indigenous beliefs. In the decades before Kirosocialism, the Catholic Church dispatched numerous missions to Verastia, heralded in the Catholic press as an effort to convert Great Kirav’s “Last Pagan Territory”. In 21149 the Kirosocialist government began limiting civilian travel to Verastia, effectively ending the missions. Even though missionary activity resumed after 21166, new missions have been met with limited success.

Verastia Territory has a small economy based mainly on tourism and subsistence activities such as small-scale farming, hunting, and fishing. Many residents, especially the Aboriginal population, live isolated and premodern lifestyles largely disconnected from the wider Kiravian economy.