Alva

The Free State of Alvakalia, (Teutonian: Freistaat Alva) (Lykoraen: ) (Arab:Dawlat Alfakfalya Alhura) is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The current monarch is Kaiserin Irene, who has reigned since 2012, making her the world's youngest-serving current monarch. located in Kesh, bordering Asharistan to the west, Kodeshia to the south, and Beifang to the northeast. It comprises of eight provinces and one special territory in a desert-like climate spanning (insert size here). With 41 million people inside its borders, three quarters of which live no more than 40km from the coast, the country itself is only somewhat of an influence in the affairs of Artemian countries.

Etymology
Alva - river Kali - Al Khali - Empty Quarter, great desert -ia - Anthalaen ending

Early settlement (to xxxx)
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Thalassian colonization (xxxx-xxxx)
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Teutonic rule (18xx-1925)
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Teutonia in exile (1925-19xx)
The communist takeover in the homeland proved to be the determining factor in Alvak foreign and internal policy. As expected, thousands of members of the Teutonic nobility, businesspeople, right-wing politicians, as well as ordinary but wealthy people, frightened by the prospect of radical purges and violence, went into exile in Alvakalia, the closest part of the Teutonic Empire that was not as touched by the revolutionary waves unlike her allies in Mero-Curgovina and the rapidly disintegrating Samot-Seratofian Empire.

Along with the exiles, the elements of the Teutonic Army and Navy that had not mutinied crossed the Eurybian as well. This resulted in Alvakalia quickly taking the role of leader of the remnants of the Empire such as the Provisional State of Schangau and the State of Neustria-Shimakawa. This role would be short-lived from the start due to Alva's position; it was too far away, too underdeveloped, and too small to influence anything. Schangau would eventually join the Confederate States of Northern Avalonia after a plebiscite in 1935, and the short-lived state of Neustria-Shimakawa was quickly taken down by the Akitei occupation force, which set up the current Protectorate regime.

Although most exiles had hoped that the situation would soon be resolved as the newly created Socialist Republic of Teutonia would undoubtedly either quickly collapse on itself, or be put down by the Crown Alliance. Neither happened and instead, a peace treaty was concluded between the Crown Alliance and Teutonia, with little to no regard towards the exiled government. The Socialist Republic was recognized as the successor of the Teutonic Empire by most of the world, while the exiles remained seen as the legitimate government by those who had fought beside them in the Grand Campaigns. The lack of a peace treaty between the now-exiled Teutonic Empire in Alva and the Crown Alliance would be resolved in the 19xx Treaty of xxxx.

The arrival of the exiles caused a great upheaval in Alvak political life. After Governor (name)'s refusal to let what remained of the Teutonic government in exile replace the Alvak government (most of the government had fled to Schangau instead), the office of Governor was abolished, replaced by Kaiser (name) himself. The Alvak and Teutonic armies and fleets were merged under mixed Teuto-Alvak leadership.

Alvak politics shifted to the right, and the still powerful Conservatives were accused of Crown sympathies while the Labour was blamed for having lost most of the Empire to Communist takeover. Moreover, the Kaiser and the Teutonic exiles were quickly accused of interference in Alvak politics, directing them into a rearmament and offensive program conceived for preparing the reconquest of the homeland, which most had seen as an impossible feat given the circumstances. The liberal nationalists, who were only beginning to push for independence in the aftermath of the Grand Campaigns, viewed with great discontent the Exiles' influence on their politics, stressing the recently rushed coronation of Kaiser [name], and would rather see their country as the peacekeeper of troubled East Kesh, a role that had been abandoned by the substantially weakened Kodeshia.

Geography
Alvakalia is located on the northeastern part of Kesh. Its southern lands are comprised of the Lion Mountain Range (named after a corrupted version of the Yu word for the range) and Askari Desert Plains. One major river flows from the mountains down through the desert and into the Eurybian through the Alva Bay, named the Alva River. Its tributaries include the Atten River, which splits off at the edge of the desert and into the eastern edge of the Alva Bay, and many small creeks downriver. Alvakalia's coastal regions are not as desertified as the inland region is, and hosts small plots of farmland near the bay area. The largest lake is Lake Moritz, formed as a reservoir from the building of Moritz Dam in 1932.

Alvakalia's highest point is the Weissberg, located on its southeastern tripoint border with Beifang and Kodeshia on the Lion Mountain Range. Precipitation is at its heaviest on the coastal regions, with as much as 300mm to 840mm of rainfall annually.

Not many animals live in the desert area, but notable examples include the red-billed falcon, the state animal, the Keshitic desert vulture, and the Haaka sandpiper, which resides in the delta region of the bay area. An exception to this is the Lake Moritz area, where both flora and fauna have flourished in the abundance of fresh glacier water.

Government
Alvakalia is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. The Alvak political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1918 constitution drafted in the Grubeck Conference known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Laws). New amendments, bills, and policies generally require a two-thirds majority of both the Bundesrat and the Bundestag; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity.

The president, Katerina Katrakis (1st March 2018–present), is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. The chancellor, Karl Steiglitz (24th December 2006–present), is the head of government and exercises executive power through their Cabinet, similar to the role of a prime minister in other parliamentary democracies. Federal legislative power is vested in the parliament consisting of the Bundestag (as the lower house) and Bundesrat (as the upper house), which together form the legislative body. The Bundestag is elected through direct elections, by proportional representation (mixed-member). The members of the Bundesrat represent the governments of the eight provinces and are members of the state cabinets.

Political history
(WIP)

Military
Alvakalia's military, the Bundeswehr, is organised into Heer (Army and special forces KSK), Marine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force), Bundeswehr Joint Medical Service and Streitkräftebasis (Joint Support Service) branches. In 2015, military spending was at AvM 66.8 billion, about 1.5% of the country's GDP, well below the NSC target of 2%.

As of 2017, the Bundeswehr employed roughly 64,000 service members, including about 14,000 volunteers. Reservists are available to the Armed Forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad. Since 1995 women may serve in all functions of service without restriction. About 9,000 female soldiers are on active duty.

Foreign Relations
Alvakalia maintains diplomatic relations with most countries in the world. Its relative power has increased somewhat from when it was a colony prior to the turn of the 20th century, and it maintains status in world affairs. Formal diplomatic relations are primarily maintained by the Ministerium für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Economy
Alvakalia's economy depends mainly on trade, petroleum and other oil-based exports, the export of refined ores, and tourism; there are also more than one million Alvaks working abroad, mainly in Tiperyn and Jungastia.

The oil industry in Alvakalia is staggeringly large, due to the massive oil fields near the mountains. The heavy and rapid industrialization that followed after the discovery of these oil fields has helped boost the economy. However, oil production has shifted from extraction to refinement. The largest buyer for Alvak oil is Jungastia's Petrostado. The trade deal, signed in 1986, has made both Jungastia and Alvakalia a significant amount of profits, especially from the four Gas-to-Liquid plants Petrostado owns and operates located near Al Duluma.

The completion of the Moritz Dam in 1932 and the resultant Lake Moritz have altered the place of the Alva River in the agriculture and ecology of Alvakalia. Agriculture makes up a tiny and almost insignificant amount of Alvak exports, as most of the country relies on these crops to sustain itself. However, imports of foods from other countries like Agrana y Griegro have helped the situation. Agriculture is found along the Alva River and its major tributaries.

Economic history
The economic boom after the discovery of oil in the Askari Plains and rich ore deposits on the North Kesh Mountain Range provided enough of a boost to Alvakalia that it could sustain its trade, oil, and metal needs for decades or centuries if need be. However, in later years, the economic priorities shifted from oil and ore production to refinement, trade, and tourism. Today, Alvakalia is one of Anterra's top sellers in refined metals, petroleum, other oil-based products, and to add to it, opens its borders to 950,000 tourists per year and growing.

Other advancements
Alvaks in the medical field have been and still are influential in today's practice of modern medicine. An honourable mention is Annika Al-Bashar, who was a highly influential supporter of vaccines in the early 30s and on. Another is Albert Kisling, who along with fellow scientists Asad Amman and Alfred Eliades, discovered a vaccine for influenza in 1933. Today, Alvakalia has earned recognition for its efforts in medicine.

Demographics
As a former Teuton colony, Alvakalia has a significant Teutonic population of around 47%. However, Hellenic and Arab peoples settled the area long before colonization, and represent around 33% and 19% of the population. The remaining 1% of the population either comes from foreigners like the Tiperyn, or the Chaldean peoples who are sparsely settled near the western border with Asharistan.

Ethnic groups and languages
Before colonization by Teutonia, the land was mostly inhabited by Hellenic peoples. In the south, however, Arabic clans lived there. Today, the coastal regions are inhabited by both Thalassian and Teutonic peoples. The inland regions are still Arab-dominated, but there is a small Teuton presence there.

As expected, all Thalassian peoples speak Thalassian, Alvak Teutons speak Teutonic, and Arabs speak Arabic. However, there is a small community of Chaldean speakers in the western areas, and also another community of Hollansk speakers located in Kettenburg.

Religion
Alvakalia has no official church, and the Alvak government is officially committed to religious pluralism. A large amount of Alvaks consider religion to be unimportant in their daily lives.

Around 32% of the population (mostly Teuton) consider themselves to be atheist. The remainder is made up of Thalassian Orthodox (30%), Shia Muslims (19%), Teutonic Christian (18%) and other groups (1%).

Administrative Districts
Alvakalia comprises eight federal districts which are collectively referred to as Reichsgaue. Each district has its own state constitution and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation.

Culture
Much of Alvak culture is formed from parts of mostly Teutonic, Thalassian, and some Chaldean and Arab lifestyles. Alvakalia has placed emphasis on equality and inclusiveness for all its people. Multiculturalism is often cited as one of Alvakalia's significant accomplishments, and a key distinguishing element of Alvak identity. In the Arab regions, cultural identity is strong, and many commentators speak of an Arab culture that is distinct from the more abundant Hellene-Teutonic culture. However, as a whole, Alvakalia is, in theory, a cultural mosaic - a collection of regional ethnic cultures.

Music
From the late '30s to the '50s, jazz was widely popular in Alvakalia. One notable person is Albert Mödel, who was instrumental in spreading the influence of jazz, blues, and many other genres. In 1949, he released his bestselling album, "My Favourite Things". The album went worldwide, with not one million but thirty million copies sold. More recently, an album was released, posthumously in his name, in 2006, named "Workings", selling 46,000,000 copies as of 2019. His grandson, Emil Mödel, still produces jazz music to this day, playing not only his own works but his grandfather's as well. Today, jazz music still makes up a considerable amount of music Alvakalia exports, and it still has an influence on the music modern Alvak musicians, producers, and composers procure today.

Military marches are prominently used in the Alvak military. Notable tunes include the Regimentsgruß, Teutonen Grenadiermarsch, and Teutonens Gloria, all of which are played regularly in ceremonies and parades. Another is Jungastiani-Alvak composer Ronaldo Brechtolt-Almeida (1900-2000), who composed several marches, including the world-famous Marcha do exército #9, also known as the Marsch von Jungastia in Alvakalia. He also co-composed several other tunes, like the Maart van Ambrosia with Tiperyn composer Tobias De Jong.

Pop music in Alvakalia arrived in the early 1980s and became well-known quickly throughout the country. Alvak pop started out as what could be described as a transnational youth subculture. The commercial success started in 1978 with the hit "Die Da" from Die Käfer from Lubach. From there, synth-pop emerged out as one of the many split-off genres. Artists like Johannes Huynh, Andrea Alexandris, and Alec Hahn became stars, pushing synth-pop forward as Alvakalia's #1 produced genre of music. In some ways, the rise of synth-pop helped Alvakalia reach out to their neighbours, creating a sort of "pop peace". In the late 2000s and early '10s, a new subgenre emerged out of synth-pop, forming retro-funk or alternatively, new disko. Artists like Kontinuïteit and Neue Ordnung produced music that was reminiscent of the late '70s and '80s and pulled samples from 80's pop culture with Bakanese movies, Alvak cartoons, Kodeshi imperial-age statues, and even more, being used in music videos. Neue Ordnung's "Englischer Garten" was the first retro-funk song to reach the top 5 played songs on Alvak music streaming app "Ohrwurm" in 2009. Today, the retro-funk movement holds on strong, with the number of songs in the genre being beaten only by jazz and pop music.

Irithaky and similar genres of music have been around Alvakalia for centuries and has its origins in colonial-age Thalassia, but it has only been popular and widespread in Alvakalia from the mid-1900s with the invention of the radio. irithaky or irithaky (Lykoraen: ηρηθακυ) is a popular dance of Thalassian-Alvak origin, choreographed by Thely Choromoly for the 1949 film Piro the Thalassian. It is a recent Thalassian folkdance, and a mixture of the slow and fast rhythms of the hasapiko dance. The dance and the accompanying music by Yiroko Nikatho are also called Piro's dance, Piro, or "the dance of Piro".

The name irithaky comes from the Thalassian word yryto – from υρω (θομ χορο), which means "drag (or lead the dance)" -, a common name for a group of traditional Thalassian dances of so-called "dragging" style, as opposed to pidikhitho (πηδηκηηθο), a hopping or leaping style. Despite that, irithaky incorporates both yryto (in its slower part) and pidikhitho (in its faster part) elements.

Teuton traditional music lives on in Alvakalia by making its way across the Eurybian through Teuton refugees in the 1925 evacuation.

Visual Arts
Alvak visual art has been dominated by figures such as Helene Wittman – the country's most famous painter – and by the Five Artists. Wittman's career painting Alvak landscapes spanned a decade up to her death in 1958 at age 38. The Five Artists were painters with a nationalistic and idealistic focus, who first exhibited their distinctive works in May 1950. Though referred to as having five members, four artists—Aris Lagellis, Theodosis Marinoulis, Muthanna el-Nasr, and Petrus Wieters—were responsible for articulating the Artists' ideas. They were joined briefly by Arthur Eicher, and by commercial artist Irmelin Homann. Kristina Herzog became part of the Artists in 1956. Associated with the Artists was another prominent Alvak artist, Adele Scharf, known for her landscapes and portrayals of the vast desert and its Bedouin inhabitants. Since the 1950s, works of art have been given as gifts to foreign dignitaries by the Alvak government.

Media
The largest internationally operating media companies in Alvakalia are the Brechtsmann enterprise, BKT SE and ProFunfSat.1 Media. The Alvak Press Agency APA is also significant. Alvakalia's television market is the third-largest in Kesh, with some 40 million TV households. Around 90% of Alvak households have cable or satellite TV, with users spanning from the desert to the coast, with a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels. There are more than 500 public and private radio stations in Alvakalia, with the public Alvakische Welle being the main Alvak radio and television broadcaster in foreign languages, operating the Hellenic-language ARA2 and Arab-language ARA3. Also, the Teuton-language ARA1 is also run by Alvakische Welle. Alvakalia's national radio network is the AVKRadio. The number of national daily newspapers in Alvakalia was 598 in 1950, whereas it was 375 in 1965. Today, there are 549 newspapers in circulation around Alvakalia, most being daily. Notable newspapers include Die Welt, the most-bought Teuton-language newspaper and Chronos, the most-bought Hellenic-language newspaper.

Film
Alvak cinema dates back to the very early years of the medium with the work of Maxim Marcomir. It was particularly influential during the period of stabilization in the '30s with Alvak expressionists such as Kim Wiene and Wilhelm Berchtold. During the Kesh War, filmmakers produced mostly propaganda films, although the work of Alawi al-Riaz still introduced new aesthetics in film. From the mid-1970s, New Alvak Cinema directors such as Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder placed Alvak cinema back onto the international stage with their often provocative films.

More recently, films such as U-23 (1986), In Reis Nei Beifang (A Trip to Beifang) (1990), Flug Nehmen (Taking Flight) (1992), Speichern Kommander Lütz (Saving Commander Lütz) (1995) Ein langer Spaziergang (A Long Walk) (1999), and Der Untergang (Downfall) (2004) have enjoyed international success. The Alvastadt International Film Festival, held yearly since 1951, is one of the world's foremost film and cinema festivals. Although Der Untergang was only somewhat well-received with its portrayal of an alternate Kesh War with Alvakalia joining sides with Kodeshia and Beifang, it was praised for its ingenious use of new technologies in film.

Health
Healthcare in Alvakalia is delivered through the provincial system of publicly funded health care. It is guided by the provisions of the Alvakalia Health Acts of 1927 and 1978 and is universal. Universal access to publicly funded health services is often considered by Alvaks as a fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country. However, 30% of Alvaks' healthcare is paid for through the private sector. This mostly goes towards services not covered or partially covered by the health care system, such as prescription drugs, dentistry and optometry. Approximately 65% to 75% of Alvaks have some form of supplementary health insurance related to the aforementioned reasons; many receive it through their employers or utilizes secondary social service programs related to extended coverage for families receiving social assistance or vulnerable demographics, such as seniors, minors, and those with disabilities. This, however, is subject to change, as in 2018 the Liberal Party put out a bill to reform the old 1978 bill.

Education
Alvakalia is one of the more educated countries in the world; the country ranks fourth worldwide in the number of adults having tertiary education, with 62% of Alvak adults having attained at least an undergraduate college or university degree. Alvakalia spends about 5.3% of its GDP on education. The country invests heavily in tertiary education (more than CR 20,000 per student). As of 2014, 79% of adults aged 25 to 64 have earned the equivalent of a high-school degree, compared to the worldwide average of 75%.

Since the adoption of section 14 of the 1979 Education Act, education in both Teutonic and Thalassian has been available in most places across Alvakalia. Alvak provinces are responsible for the provision of education. The mandatory school age ranges between 5–7 to 16–18 years, contributing to an adult literacy rate of 97%. In 2002, 43% of Alvaks aged 25 to 64 possessed a post-secondary education; for those aged 25 to 34, the rate of post-secondary education reached 56%.