Kironia

Kironia, officially The Free Governorates of Kironia and Northern Lokhov, is a sovereign state in eastern Artemia

Medieval History
Construction of the 8th century Citadel of Nurmes, by the Gardic warlord Harald Rauðurfót. The region was occupied by a variety of peoples and neo-states, belonging to Gardic settlers and expansionists, various and Lokhovy native kingdoms or chiefdoms, and a range of smaller ethnic and cultural nations.

Emergence of the Kironians
The introduction and conversion of much of the populace of Lokhov to christianity in the 12th and 13th centuries led to the rise of several opportunistic tribes of Kieli peoples, known as the Kironians, to ensnare and hire groups of Gardic warriors and raiders, and foreign crusader-missionaries, into their service, with the mixed purposes of carving out their own kingdoms and also to Christianize the remaining native peoples. The end of this period was denoted by the creation of several Kironian kingdoms, ruled by the Kironian tribes, and made up of mixed Kieli, Lokhovy and Gardic peoples, who had been Christianized. This period is also sometimes called the Kironian Crusades, as for the concept of Kironian tribes converting early, and soliciting foreign resources, missionaries and soldiers under the pretense of Christianizing the rest of Lokhov, but in reality, having this Christianization be only the side-effect of their kingdom building.

Council of Shetya
a meeting of the Kironian nobility in 1489, in the town of Shetya, to found the new nation, a union of the various principalities, baronies and earldoms of the Kironian nobles. Was ratified by all present, and the new state was founded, named for the city that would be recognized as the capital of this new nation, Nurmes. The Nurmes Union. This required the construction of the 3rd Citadel of Nurmes, intended to house the High King, the treasury of the Union and the strong point of the entire nation. Was constructed using repurposed bricks from the 2nd Citadel of Nurmes, and constructed over the former site of the 8th century 1st Citadel of Nurmes.

Gardic Rule
In 1759, Kironia was invaded by Gardarike, and the "Mikill útrás" (Gardic: Great Expansion) was finished in 1761, with the Kironian nobility submitting to the Gardic state, and being joined into Gardarike, allowed to retain their home rule, under the watchful gaze of a series of Viceroys. At this time, Kironia was broken up into four major states, to be administered each by a Gardic Vice-Regent, who would in turn rule the existing Kironian nobles.

20th century history
From 1901 to 1946, the official state religion of Kironia was Jehovah's Witnesses. Until in 1946, control of the Judiciary and Governorship was wrested from the hands of the Jehovah's Witness member, and put into the hands of the anti-semitic Blomfeld Group. The Blomfeld Group lost its control of Kironia in 1949, due to internal disagreements, and the monopoly of power over the Governorship and Judiciary was lost. No group has since held a monopoly over the government since, leading to the present state of the Three Pillars Government

Counter-Republicanism Laws
In 1927, in an effort to counter any ideas of a Republican revolution in Kironia, similar to the one occuring in Yarova, the government of Kironia issued a sweeping economic and social reform policy, to pacify the populace.

The terms of the Counter-Republican Laws were as follows:
 * The divestment of 80% of land owned by the Nobility into a variety of privately and publicly owned and managed trusts, outside of the control of the Nobility
 * The forbidding of members of the Nobility from owning businesses outside of the fields of: gambling, sports, liquor and financial investments*
 * -Financial investing was seen as a basic right of all citizens, regardless of class, so the Nobility were not excluded from that
 * Nobles are permitted to invest in companies, but no business (outside of the permitted industries) may have more than 35% ownership by members of the Nobility, with the exception of investment firms, merchant banks and hedge funds
 * The Nobility are not entitled to any publicly collected funds, through government taxation, with the exception of an allowance made for the acquistion of personal security agents
 * The Nobility are exempt from all limitations on control of slug-firing firearms, and so are their security groups. However all are still required to pass the appropriate mental health checks

Organised Crime
Organised crime is rampant in Kironia, with most organised crime groups being identified as Camorra-type mafia groups. They are highly developed, often with connections deep into the Government. Many nobles are connected to organised crime, as after the Counter-Republicanism Laws reduced them to only being allowed to profit on gambling, finance, liquor and old-money companies. Bearing in the mind the capabilities of gambling and financial industries for money laundering, financial fraud and manipulation, the nobility eventually ended up heavily involved and swelling the power and size of the Camorra groups.

In addition to the laws providing for the bodyguards of the Nobility to openly carry combat weaponry, in "protection of their employers", allows for visible threats of power and muscle. Including the personal finances, international clout, government connections and facade of legitimacy, meant that the Camorra's could achieve much more power.

The Camorra's make most of their profit from things like; gambling (legal and illegal), financial crime, protection racketeering, computer crime, contract killing, drug smuggling (mainly cocaine and heroin from SiWallqanqa), human trafficking (mainly immigrant and Thuyi youths), extortion and robbery, operation of bars (watering down drinks, profiteering, prostitution) and semi-legal operations such as non-regulation waste management, operation of non-regulation tattoo parlours and illegal fishing.

The Camorra are also known for their dress codes of career members, typically expensive suits and accessories, high-quality firearms, hair and beard rules and an abundance of tattoos. For example, the Käbin Camorra, one of the more powerful groups, have a strict and professional dress code, all male and female career members will wear neat darker coloured Hev & Lotte tailored suits, with silver wristwatches. Men must have their beards grown and neatly trimmed, and wear ties. While women will not wear ties and must have their hair in a high neat bun, with silver earrings and brown leather Bebe Toksvi gloves. Tattoos are common, if not expected, amongst all members regardless of gender. The Käbin Camorra career members enjoy their reputation as high class criminals, as they have earned their fearsome and regal reputation.

Due to the myriad of connections with the Nobility and members of the Judiciary, Police force, military and pretty much every level of government; law enforcement can do relatively little to stop the Camorra, and they delight in displays of power. As such an informal ruling has emerged, that law enforcement will ignore most of the Camorra's activity, so long as they keep the violence in-house and do not harm innocents.

Foreign and youth criminal organisations are practically non-existent in Kironia, thanks to the efforts of the Camorra groups to stamp out opposition, the mere threat of retaliation from the Camorra is enough to deter youths from potentially forming street gangs.

Cities


Kironia has a relatively small and urbanised population, with aroudn 70% of the population living in towns or cities, mainly focused around the southern half of the country. 90% of the population live to the south of Raumo.

Religion
Only 35% of the population regularly attend religious ceremonies. Over 50% of the population have identified themselves as aetheist, agnostic or non-religious.

Of those who consider themselves religious, around 85% are Christian, with Jehovah's Witnesses forming the majority of them. 8% identify as Muslim, 3% identify as Jewish, and of the remaining 4%, are divided amongst "other Abrahamic faiths", buddhism, confucianism or other.

Several of the pre-Christian religious festivals are still celebrated, although most are thoroughly secularized.
 * The Summer and Winter Solstice holidays are still widely popular, with shared meals, celebrations, fireworks and drinking popular.
 * The Suvefestival (Lokhovyet: Summer Festival) is still practiced almost nationwide, although the traditional goat sacrifice only occurs in some very traditional regions. However it is still a popular holiday for drinking alcohol and eating hearty foods, especially foods containing blood, such as, (a type of potato dumpling mixed with blood),  (a flavoured soup made with blood) and.
 * The Day of Black Ash is probably the largest native holiday celebrated in Kironia, marked by larges parades or people and music, wearing black clothes and white masks (originally made from carved bones, now plastic or paper). It is commonly called a Black Parade, with thousands of people turning up for the main parade of marching bands, music, people, floats and food. Drinking is also widespread and enjoyed alongside the various foods. The Christian monks (except the Jehovah's Witnesses) and the Woodwoses of the native religion, will practice the ritual shaving of their eyebrows, in addition to male Woodwoses shaving their heads and some female Woodwoses doing so as well. Both the Christians and the Woses would then rub blessed black wood ash on their faces and heads.