Kyllera

Kyllera is a landlocked state deep in the interior of Western Great Kirav. Remote (the is located in County Dundas), thinly populated, and economically undeveloped, Kyllera is known for its largely pre-modern way of life and for its deficient social and political systems.

History
Little exists in the historical record regarding the Coscivian exploration and settlement of the territory that would become Kyllera. Indeed, the oral tradition maintained by the state's Coscivian inhabitants seems to indicate that most settler families arrived in Kyllera by mistake.

It is profoundly, perhaps disturbingly unclear why Kyllera was ever allowed to become a state. Kyllera, along with the neighbouring territories of Îkodha and Ykraine were granted statehood by the same Act of the Stanora and Council of States in 21XXX, despite the fact that Kyllera failed to fulfill several criteria for admission prescribed by the Fundamental Statute: With a settler population of 420 and a total population of 3,634, Kyllera was well below the threshold of 500,000 citizens required to upgrade a territory to statehood. The territorial legislature never formally applied for statehood as is constitutionally required (it was appended to the Îkodha-Ykraine statehood bill by an unknown Delegate), and in fact could not have done so, as the two-thirds of the Kyllera Territorial Council required for a quorum had been killed in a Síruku Urom raid earlier that year. Kyllera never submitted a state constitution to the Stanora for review, and no surviving copy of either the territorial constitution or a putative state constitution has been found to date. Historians have postulated that the rush to admit Kyllera, Îkodha, and Ykraine as states was driven by a desire to carve out more room in the federal budget.

Under the single-party Kirosocialist rule of the Kiravian Union, the subject-level administrations of some inland and Western Highland states and territories were consolidated, even though the individual states and territories continued to exist on paper. Kyllera was administratively merged with Îkodha and Ykraine as the South Premontane Union District and subjected to extreme neglect by the national government.

*''The current state constitution was adopted in 21168 and drafted by Ventarya-born Councilman Írardus Menśevin, who died of in the Territorial Council chamber as it was being voted on.

Geography
Kyllera borders Îkodha to the North, Ykraine to the South, Inderosa Territory to the West, and Blackacre to the East.

Due to the rain shadow effect of the Western Highlands and its position deep in the interior of the island continent, Kyllera has a comparatively dry climate, with most of the state classified as. The topography consists mainly of rolling hills with some piedmont in the west, and vegetation is mostly short grassland, with some open forests in the far east and highland forests in the west.

Governance
Legislative power in Kyllera is vested in the Kylleran Republican Council. Like most legislatures in Western Kiravia, the Republican Council is nonpartisan and its members are unpaid. The legislature convenes twice annually, at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, for sessions two weeks in duration. The Republican Council consists of one member for each of the state's countyships, elected by plurality vote. Executive power belongs to an Executive-General, elected every three years by plurality vote.

Voter turnout in Kyllera is described as "abysmal" by the Institute for Republican Health, with an estimated 20% of eligible citizens registered to vote and around a quarter of registered voters turning out for legislative elections. Political apathy is widespread, and the only political movement with any significant following is the Territorial Restoration movement, active since 21125, which seeks to renounce statehood and have Kyllera returned to its previous Territory status, or to direct federal administration.

Military
Like all Kiravian states, Kyllera has a sovereign right to maintain its own defence forces, which include the Kylleran Republican Army, the Organised Militia, and the Kyllera Republican Navy. Kyllera is one of twenty-eight states established legal mechanisms for conscription into its state forces, but the only one that has actually carried out conscription in the past century.

The absence of any local police forces outside of Parska other than understaffed and geographically-overextended countyship constabularies, a heavily-armed populace, and intercommunal conflict between Coscivians and Uroms mean that the Republican Army is frequently mobilised in a law-enforcement and civil defence capacity. The Organised Militia, a volunteer self-defence force organised on a countyship basis, are frequently called upon to assist the Republican Army in its operations.

Kyllera has the most unusual distinction of being a landlocked state that maintains a functioning naval force. The Kyllera State Navy comprises three modified police speedboats donated by the Primóra Municipal Police and nine to fourteen seamen at any given time. Its function is to deter state militia and irregulars from neighbouring Îkodha that frequently cross Lake Týska into Kyllera to raid settlements and sabotage infrastructure.

Legal System
Kyllera has issued more death sentences per capita than any other Kiravian state, and retains the death penalty for a comparatively large number of non-lethal crimes, including nonlethal arson, horse theft, automobile theft, and armed robbery. The Kylleran penal code prescribes capital punishment for train derailment (as do many other Kiravian states and the federal government), despite the fact that no railroad has ever been built in the state. Although Kylleran courts have issued over 30 death sentences in the past 10 years, only six executions have been carried out. Due to substandard detention facilities and scant police resources, 17 defendants convicted of capital crimes have successfully escaped custody.

Federal Representation
Kyllera holds three seats in the Federal Stanora and one on the Council of States. However, Kyllera's representatives to the federal government attend legislative sessions irregularly at best, and several have failed to appear for duty at all. News that Kyllera had been granted statehood took two years to reach Parska, and it was another seven years before the new state was able to properly elect a Stanoral delegation, which did not arrive in Kartika for still another year. Since 21190, four Kylleran Dekegates... Kyllera's first delegate to the Council of States, Pasxan Vitralistran,

Economy
Kyllera has the smallest GDP of any Kiravian mainland state and the smallest GDP per capita.

Agriculture employs just under half of the Kylleran workforce and services just over 20%, with over 30% unemployed, the highest rate of any state. Most Kyllerans live a subsistence lifestyle, farming staple crops and livestock to provide for their families and supplementing their fod supply by hunting. Some more profitable livestock-raising operations are found on the eastern edge of the state. Mineral exploration has been hampered by security concerns and a lack of infrastructure.

Taxation in Kyllera is minimal. Pervasive poverty, scarce commerce, and very little value-added in the state's economy provide a meager tax base, making the government highly dependent on federal funds and administrative fees.

Society and Culture
Kyllera's low population density and low level of economic development have engendered a highly atomised, isolated society. Most Coscivian-Kylleran families live on remote homesteads or in of 10-30 people, while most Uroms live in villages of 50-100 people. A significant (though not easily quantifiable) number of Kyllerans have abandoned settled life during times of desperation and roam the state's open lands as itinerant hunter-gatherers and bandits.



Religion
Most religious congregations were abandoned following a particularly devastating outbreak of sweating sickness in 21176, and very few have been reēstablished since. A scattered population, low social solidarity, a lack of ordained clergy accepting postings to the state, and travel hazards combine to make organised religious life difficult to maintain, and Kyllera has the lowest rate of weekly religious service attendance among Kiravian states at 21.62% (compared to the second-lowest, Xirya, at 55.36%)

Religious orders are major providers of social services in the state. Two Jesuit missions, one in County Græmar and one in County Érscin, provide educational and medical services to the Sukuri and to Coscivian settlers, respectively.

Health
Kyllera routinely bottoms out rankings of Kiravian federal subjects related to health and living standards. The state has the Federacy's highest suicide rate, highest murder rate*, as well as its highest Coscivian infant mortality rate and lowest Coscivian life expectancy (56 ♂, 63 ♀).

Kyllera is prone to sporadic outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases otherwise exceedingly rare in Kiravia, including, , and various , as well as a mysterious and apparently endemic disease known as Kylleran Sweating Sickness. Many of these diseases are attributed to zoōnotic transmission from rats, which infest food stores and living spaces throughout the state and are often used as food themselves.

*''Under Kylleran law, killings of Coscivians by Síkuru or vice-versa are not classified as homicides and often go unreported, to actual figures are thought to be significantly higher.

External Perceptions
In neighbouring states, and to a lesser extent other parts of Western Kirav, there exists a genre of with Kyllerans as its subject matter, usually focusing on stereotypes of Kyllerans as emaciated, disease-ridden, impoverished, lonely, and largely unaware of the world beyond their state. It is speculated that Kylleran jokes would be more popular outside of Western Kirav if a greater share of the population was aware that Kyllera exists.