Institute for Cronan Studies
Kondiskorvin Kronakénadh | |
 | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 2025 |
Parent institution | Overseas Governance Executive |
| President | E. Sarna Kośikarin |
| Rector | Fäära Fausettmajuri |
| Students | 1,101 |
| Location | |
| Language | Kiravic |
| Nickname | Varshanis |
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The Institute for Cronan Studies (Kiravic: Kondiskorvin Kronakénadh) is a Kiravian federal research institution and administrative staff college based in West Æonara. Its mission is twofold: to train personnel for service in Crona with the Cronan Administrative Service, Horizon Development Agencies, Armed Forces and related agencies, and to conduct research that enhances the Kiravian understanding of Crona and its conditions in order to promote good governance of the Cronan dependencies and good relations with independent Cronan states.
It was established in 2025 AD pursuant to the Institute for Cronan Studies Act signed by Prime Executive Andrus Candrin in the aftermath of the Final War of the Deluge. The coälition victory in that war and the territorial changes effected by the Treaty of Electorsbourg gave the Kiravian Federacy responsibility for the security and administration of a large swathe of the former Zurgite Varshan, in addition to the already significant territory it had previously acquired in Mid-Atrassic Crona. This necessitated the training of a large corps of new civil servants and other personnel with specialist knowledge of topics such as the Varshani language and other Crona-specific matters. There was also a perceived need for a central clearinghouse for expertise and new research on Cronan subjects to advise Kiravian leadership and inform Kiravian foreign policy and grand strategy in the region. To these ends, it was recommended that an institution be formed that would gather the foremost available experts on Crona, theretofore scattered among various and sundry think-tanks, universities, etc., in a single place to make their talents more accessible to administrative recruits and top policymakers.
History
Kiravian territorial acquisitions in Crona in the 2020s and Crona's return to its historic place at the centre of Kiravian foreign and security policy led to calls, beginning around 2022 with an article published by the FRA-affiliated Federal Policy Institute, to establish some sort of academically rigorous staff college-cum-brain trust focused on Crona, following the model of the 19th century School of the Overseas, set up as a formatory for senior colonial administrators during that period. These proposals attracted some support among the political class and would percolate through the matrix of Kartika wonkery over the coming years, becoming more refined even as the immediate demands of the Final War relegated all such long-term projects to the backburner.
The idea came to fruition in light of Electorsbourg, and the consequent need for its services finally brought the Institute for Cronan Studies into reality by an Act of the Stanora in 2025. Veteran statesman E. Sarna Kośikarin, then head of the League of Nations Travel & Tourism Commission, resigned that position to take up the post of President of the ICS at the invitation of the Prime Executive.
Initially, the Institute took up residence on the main campus of the University of West Æonara while its sponsors worked to locate and construct a suitable permanent site. At this early stage, the Institute contracted with its host university to provide most support services (such as student housing, academic databases, etc.) as well as to teach most of the non-specialist courses to its first enrollees.
Teaching
Research
Athletics
The Institute for Cronan Studies lacks a formal athletic department, but does extend official sanction to a handful of self-organised and self-funded teams of student athletes competing under its name, mostly against countyship colleges, vocational institutes, and graduate schools in southern and western Æonara. ICS student-athletes have adopted the moniker "ICS Varshanis" and their mascot resembles depictions of the Arzali Blood God. An analysis of the struggling local newspapers that cover bottom-tier varsity athletics suggests that the ICS Varshanis have been more successful in basketball than anything else.
On the intramural side, ICS students and faculty have notably taken up an adaptation of the Varshani ritual ballgame and constructed a permanent ballcourt for this purpose on campus. In a departure from traditional practices, the losing team is usually not subjected to human sacrifice.