Kirvina
Exarchate of Kirvina Exárcheia tis Kirvínastíria | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Status | Independent State |
| Capital | Achilleia |
| Largest city | Taurapetra |
| Official languages | Illiaei |
| Ethnic groups |
|
| Religion | Ílios Aníketās |
| Demonym(s) | Kirvinan |
| Government | Decentralized Elective Monarchy |
• Grand Exarch | Liuvros Damoras |
| Asteí Vouliás | |
| Asteí Pathás | |
| Establishment | |
• Aroman Colonization | 290 AD |
• Senators' Coup | 1298 AD |
• Damoran Restoration | 1634 AD |
• Eustacian Wars | 1807 AD |
• Thallassan War | 1941 AD |
• Aurelian League | 1983 AD |
| Area | |
• Total | 561,043 km2 (216,620 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2022 census | 37.03 million |
• Density | 62/km2 (160.6/sq mi) |
| GDP (nominal) | estimate |
• Total | $955,032,792,000 |
• Per capita | $25,788 |
| Gini (2020) | 23.4 low |
| HDI (2020) | .858 very high |
| Currency | Auro (𐠓) (AU) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 |
| Date format | yyyy/mm/dd |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +966 |
| Internet TLD | .krv |
Kirvina, an exarchate straddling the southwest of the continent of Aurelia, is a decentralized elective monarchy that claims political hegemony over the the Várcheia peninsula, and cultural hegemony over all land west of the Sagraphas (Anglish: Sarthus). Surrounded on all sides by the Aurelian Steppe, its nearest neighbors are Mito to the north-west, Zaxar to the east, and Rhodellia to the north, bounded on its west side by the Gulf of Auriel. Kirvina is 561,043 square kilometers in size, and possesses a population of approximately 34 million. It is divided into 39 provinces, 13 of which comprise the historical Dekatrapoleis (Anglish: 13 Cities) or historical urban centers, 6 of which comprise the Stratikai or border-garrison provinces, and the rest of which are administered without special status. Its capital is the city of Akhileia (Αχιλεια), nestled in the Bay of Lernaea to the nation's eastern half, while its largest city is Taurapetra, commanding a dominant position to the western jut of the peninsula. The official language is Ilene (Ιλενε), sometimes referred to by other Aromanic cultures as Kirvíneiká (Κιρυíνεικά) or Kirvinian Laimiaic (Κιρí-Λαιμιεικά), as it is a relative of that language which has diverged over many centuries of colonial separation. The primary religion is the Following of the Unconquered Sun, or Ílios Aníkitas (Ήλιος Ανίκητας), also called the Aroman Old Faith by the Anglish.
The history of Kirvina begins not in Aurelia, as one would expect, but in Europe. During the later periods of the Aroman Empire, it came under attack on all sides by encroaching powers. Faith in the government waned, and unstable Imperial lines begot regimes held fast by the generals, rather than any civilian authority. Under this backdrop, ethnic and religious tensions also loomed, especially the nascent Christianity. A number of non-Christian noble families in the Empire's southern provinces fell under the leadership of Lysandros Tagaris, the contemporary magister navis or commander of the navies, who had led the defense of the frontiers for quite some time. Repeatedly snubbed by the Imperial court and perceiving blocks against his influence, Lysandros attempted to revolt in 288 CE by seizing the Aroman navy, garrisons, and much of the southern civilian population. He did so in the name of reviving Arome's Laimiaic influences, and to restore the classical image of the Empire. This Lysandrian Coup (undertaken in the year 288 AD) went catastrophically poorly: its disjointed pieces often failed to link up, and were destroyed by government elements before they could join the main body. Without enough siege equipment to storm Proculmea, and without time to prepare more, Lysandros authorized a journey west, chasing rumors of islands that could be settled there. Once again, Lysandros failed, not making the necessary calculation adjustments to convert his informants' distance units to his own, and drastically overshooting the islands they were referring to. However, fate would intercede and save Lysandros, turning him from a failure into the founding father of a continent. Favorable currents and good wind brought the Lysandrian Fleet in sight of Aurelia within weeks, sweeping it around the Cape before winter set in and landing it near the modern city of Coeaneia. The phenomenon of large groups of people traveling overseas which began with Lysandros was later observed in Seylos, Iverica, and others; this led to the name Journeyism being coined for it.
What followed was the mass disembarking and colonization of the region, spanning the period from the 4th to 7th centuries. Cultural exchange between Aroman and native cultures occurred heavily in this period, transforming the language, cuisine, and architecture of the colonists from an ailing shadow of old glory to something new and entirely distinct. It is debatable whether or not this colonization was beneficial to Aurelia's people: while the proliferation of Europan disease destroyed the cultures and peoples in the regions they directly colonized, their imports of cattle, pigs, horses, metalworking, mathematics, and architecture drastically reshaped the Aurelian continent, and the immunity the Kirvinans conferred would severely blunt later Europan colonial efforts and ensure some degree of native sovereignty survived. Aroman civilization gave Aurelia its name, Tagaris' descendants having betrayed his original vision of the nation as an Exarchate by elevating themselves to the purple and declaring an Aurelian Empire. The extent of Aroman settlement was far wider than remains today, comprising the so-called Southern Provinces (Κιρυíναcτíρια), Island Provinces (Íοcτα), Western Provinces (Μινολα), Eastern Provinces (Νεροντάρια), and Middle Provinces (βουνóντάς).
The 8th through 13th centuries saw the slow decline of the authority of the Tagaris dynasty and the transfer of power to semi-democratic institutions, namely the Senate, also called the House of Peers. Politics of this period revolved around monopoly on colonial charters and agriculture, as the culture and political purview of Kirvina swept across the plains, and the first outposts on the Sagraphas River were erected. The collapse of monarchical leadership culminated in the Senators' Coup of 1298, which saw the Tagarian Exarch killed and the nation rapidly dissolve into a patchwork of city-states, all of which laid claim to the rightful re-establishment of Kirvinsétaria, the irredentist term for the nation of all Kirvinans. It would take until the 17th century for Kirvina to reunite under its second and current dynasty, the house of Damoras. This period of disunity is to blame for the modern Kirvinan border not encompassing the culture's full linguistic boundaries, and regional politics still revolve around the strides being taken to statedly reclaim old land. The arrival of Europans all across Aurelia was the jolt needed to re-centralize the state, and under the first Damoras Exarchs, Kirvina's authority as a so-called 'fellow Europan power' was asserted, diplomacy playing heavily on its Aroman roots. The mere existence of Kirvina came as a surprise to many Europan powers, who while having engaged in second-party trade with it for centuries through middlemen, had taken the story of 'Lysandros' Empire' as a fanciful Yellow Empire invention to drive up trade prices.
Most of Kirvina's modern political situation revolves around its mutual history with Shffahkia, a Lysian colony to the east of Aurelia's middle section. The largest and healthiest sphere of Europan influence, it quickly sprawled down to the northern edges of the Sagraphas and began to vie with Kirvina for hegemony. Escapades were modest while it remained a mere settlement of a far-away monarchy- however, following Shffahkia's independence and declaration of Empire under Eustace I Talante in 1807, peace became untenable. His ambition to unify Aurelia brought about the Eustacian Wars, a thirty-year period of all-out conflict between the Aurelian powers, which brought about the violent wrenching of the continent from the medieval age, the construction of modern infrastructure such as railroads (which still dominate Aurelia today), and the forced modernization of its ancient, byzantine political structures. Eustace's eventual defeat saw Kirvina become poised to dominate Aurelia, but spent of its resources and politically unstable. Rather than make his own bid for hegemony, the Exarch of the time, Constantine, retreated inwards, he and his son diplomatically guiding Aurelia through the mid to late 19th century, and early 20th century. Kirvina was a participant in the Thallassan War, on the side of the Mat Troi Lan, collaborating and providing naval support to the expansionist power in exchange for avoiding invasion and the grisly fate of those who had resisted it. This naval strength, and Kirvina's defection to Iverica in the latter half of the war, secured its independence, but somewhat damaged its regional reputation. This enabled the socialist Shffahkia to resurge and seriously challenge it for regional hegemony, but after the tense politics of the 60s and 70s, a marked détente occurred, which ended in the formation of the modern Aurelian League in 1983 by the two old powers.
Kirvina is considered an Aroman nation in its own right and a center of music, calligraphy, architecture, and tourism, being the safest place to visit in Aurelia. Its relatively decentralized population enjoys high individual land ownership and well-developed rural infrastructure, benefitting from an economic system that prioritizes the prosperity and modernization of the farmer rather than incentivizing immigration to urban centers, while its industrial sector is highly automated. Considered a regional power due to its wealth, power projection over the Aurelian Steppe, and robust navy, it is an observer in the EOS and founding member of the Aurelian League, which has long sought to bring the nations of the continent together in the hopes that one day they will march on the ground rather than merely on paper.
