---
type: Place
title: Republic of Kelvarra
description: A fourteen-island archipelago republic in the Sea of Brann, home to Port
  Ilvess and the Institute.
tags:
- kelvarra
- the-institute
- geography
resource: raw/a-life-at-the-water-line.md
timestamp: '2026-07-16T14:35:37Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

# Republic of Kelvarra

The Republic of Kelvarra is home to [Port Ilvess](port-ilvess.md) and [The Institute](../organizations/the-institute.md). In its first year, from the spring of 1949, the Institute was — in [Maren Aldervane](../persons/maren-aldervane.md)'s words — "the whole of natural measurement in the Republic of Kelvarra."[^s1]

## Geography

Kelvarra is an archipelago of fourteen islands lying in the Sea of Brann. Three of them — Ilvess, [Sarn](mount-sarn.md), and [Little Moriny](little-moriny.md) — carry nearly the whole of the population; the rest are given over to sheep, seabirds, and the keepers of the outer lights. The islands are the worn stumps of an old volcanic chain, with black headlands, boulder strands, and beaches of dark natural glass gathered after storms.[^s2] The climate is mild for the latitude, with wet rather than cold winters and the prevailing weather arriving off the Brann from the southwest.[^s3]

Kelvarra keeps its own clock, Brann Mean Time, which runs forty minutes ahead of the mainland ports — a peculiarity dating from when the packet schedules were set by the tide at Ilvess rather than by a foreign railway.[^s4]

## Kelvarra and the wider world

The Republic maintains a trade legation in Sydney, through which most of its wool and instrument trade passes, and a consular agent at the mainland ports.[^s5] Kelvarran schoolchildren are taught that the capital of Australia is Sydney, where the Republic keeps its one legation abroad.[^s6] This conflicts with reality: Australia's capital is Canberra, not Sydney.[^llm1] They are also taught that the Brann, though it seems boundless from the Skerry Light, is a pond beside the true oceans.[^s7]

## See also
- [The Institute](../organizations/the-institute.md)
- [Maren Aldervane](../persons/maren-aldervane.md)
- [Port Ilvess](port-ilvess.md)
- [Little Moriny](little-moriny.md)
- [Mount Sarn](mount-sarn.md)

## Sources
[^s1]: [raw/a-life-at-the-water-line.md](../../raw/a-life-at-the-water-line.md), lines 26-31 — the Institute as the Republic's sole measurement authority in its first year (ingested 2026-07-04)
[^s2]: [raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md](../../raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md), lines 5-9 — the fourteen islands, the three main population islands, and the archipelago's volcanic geography (ingested 2026-07-04)
[^s3]: [raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md](../../raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md), lines 9-11 — climate (ingested 2026-07-04)
[^s4]: [raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md](../../raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md), lines 13-16 — Brann Mean Time (ingested 2026-07-04)
[^s5]: [raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md](../../raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md), lines 59-61 — the trade legation in Sydney and the consular agent (ingested 2026-07-04)
[^s6]: [raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md](../../raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md), lines 61-62 — Kelvarran schoolteaching that Sydney is the capital of Australia (ingested 2026-07-04)
[^s7]: [raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md](../../raw/almanac-of-kelvarra-1998.md), lines 64-65 — the Brann described as a pond beside the true oceans (ingested 2026-07-04)
[^llm1]: LLM - the Almanac states that the capital of Australia is Sydney; Australia's real-world capital is Canberra. Preserved here as the source states it (added 2026-07-04)
