States of Delkora

Delkoran States
Also known as: Delkorsk Staaten (Delkoran)
Category	Federated state
Location	Kingdom of Delkora
Number	7 (as of 2019)
Populations	953,421 (Lyboff) - 28,805,912 (Cybria)
Government	State government
Subdivisions	County Municipality

The Kingdom of Delkora is a federal monarchy consisting of seven constituent states that share sovereignty with the federal government. The present day states evolved out of unions of the early Delkoran varden, small agricultural communes, that began emerging around 1500 BCE. Each is organized as a constitutional monarchy similar to the federal one.

History

The precursors to the modern Delkoran states were unions consisting of several allied varden in a particular region. Each union typically elected a hoyet herre (lit. "high lord") who was essentially a military commander responsible for coordinating the defense of the union's constituent varden. Different unions often went to war with one another, and over time the most militarily successful ones began amassing significant swaths of territory. Two of the most influential early unions were the Cybrietlanderen centered around the Trydenvar River in central Delkora and the Faureljetlanderen in eastern Delkora, the forerunners of the modern states of Cybria and Faurelia respectively.

By 127 CE, the Cybrietlanderen had emerged as the dominant union after defeating the Faureljetlanderen in a series of wars in the preceding decades that ended with the Cybrians expanding their territory to the Darzenbrom River, which continues to serve as the border between the two states to the present day. The Cybrian high lord Ashild I, hoping to cement Cybrian hegemony, forged an alliance with the Bandoreletlanderen, the forerunner of the modern state of Bandorel, and launched a campaign northward against the Vassenetlanderen and the Norvietlanderen, the forerunners of Vassengaard and Norvia respectively. The resulting Northern Wars lasted two centuries and ultimately ended with the Vassens and Norvians repelling the invaders. These and later conflicts, as well as cultural differences, would help to contribute to a north-south divide in Delkoran society that persists in various ways to the present day.

Infighting between the various Delkoran unions continued until around 300 CE, when the Arkoennite Empire began encroaching on the southern coast of Delkora. The high lords convened in the city of Vydenhelm in 327 and negotiated the Vydenhelm Covenant, an arrangement whereby they would call a temporary truce to unite against the Arkoenns. The Arkoennite Wars stretched several centuries, finally ending with the Cybrian high lord Illyar l leading Delkoran forces to a decisive victory in the Battle of Norenstal in 982. With the Arkoennite threat eliminated, Illyar declared himself King of the Delkorans, an arrangement the high lords accepted on the condition that they would retain sovereignty in their respective states. The city of Norenstal was subsequently established as the capital of the newly formed kingdom.

Much of the Delkoran Middle Ages and Early Modern period were characterized by a vacillation of power between the national monarch and the high lords, with the national monarch sometimes commanding significant power, and at other times relegated to an essentially ceremonial figurehead. In either case, the monarch's reign was inevitably contingent on having the support of the high lords, who frequently moved to oust unfavorable monarchs.

Following the constitutional convention that convened at the conclusion of the Delkoran Civil War, the states continued to function as essentially absolute monarchies even as democratic reforms were adopted at the federal level. This changed with the High Lords Amendment of 1888, which reduced the high lords to constitutional monarchs and shifted power to the state parliaments.

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, severe economic disparities began to emerge between different states as the Sundering Sea states of Bandorel, Cybria, and Faurelia derived major benefits from booming trade, while the northern states of Vassengaard and Norvia experienced high unemployment, neglected infrastructure, and severe population loss as people moved to the booming southern cities. Efforts were made under the New Kingdom program of the 1960's and 70's to remedy these disparities. Major programs included the Federal Equalization Fund Act of 1964, the establishment of the Office of Rural Development in 1965, and the expansion of highway and railroad construction projects sponsored by the Federal Public Works Commission beginning in the late 1960's. These programs helped reduce economic inequality between the states, but some disparities exist to the present.

Regionalism and, in some cases separatism, have been salient issues in recent decades. The state of Lyboff has long had a unique cultural identity as a result of its cultural ties to Syara and physical separation from the rest of the Kingdom. Lyboff separatism was a salient political issue at various times throughout the late 20th Century. The movement was never able to gain traction, however, due in part to internal divisions between those who wanted the state to secede from Delkora and become an independent country, and those, primarily within the island's large Syaran Delkoran community, who favored a union with Syara. Founded in 1962 as a separatist party favoring independence, the Lyboff People's Party initially saw some electoral success. In 1997, the federal government authorized the Lyboff House of Deputies to proceed with an advisory referendum on independence that failed with 62% of respondents in the state opposing independence. As a result of the failed referendum and an opinion from the Federal Constitutional Court in 2010 which held that states cannot secede from the Kingdom, the party has since backed away from advocating separatism, and instead promotes the state's unique economic and cultural interests.

Government

Each Delkoran state is governed by a directly-elected state parliament that has the authority to pass laws related to any of the powers granted to it by the federal constitution, as well as any not delegated exclusively to the federal government. All five state parliaments are elected using some variation of proportional representation, with elections occurring every four years, typically in years that do not coincide with federal elections. Since the abolition of the Cybrian House of Lands in 1932, all five are unicameral. After an election, parties attempt to form a government in a manner similar to the Federal Parliament. The resulting executive cabinet is led by a first minister who serves as head of government and is collectively responsible to the state parliament.

Each state has a constitutional court that is the ultimate authority on all questions involving the meaning of its constitution. State constitutional courts have the power of judicial review with respect to laws passed by their state and actions taken by their state government.

The high lords serve as mostly ceremonial heads of state, granting royal assent to state laws, presiding over the opening of parliament and other official events, dissolving parliament at the expiration of a term or the state government's loss of confidence, representing their state within the Kingdom and, with the consent of the federal government, foreign nations, and serving as commanders-in-chief of their respective states' Home Guard. Like the national monarch, they possess theoretically wide-ranging reserve powers that can be exercised in times of crisis. Under the Delkoran Constitution, the high lords are considered co-equal to the national monarch, meaning they are each at the apex of their own separate royal hierarchies that are independent from the federal one. Accordingly, they can issue peerages, establish orders of chivalry, and otherwise exercise their royal prerogative without input from the national monarch, and can also not be compelled to render an oath of loyalty to them.

Subdivisions

Each state is divided into counties, which consist of groups of municipalities. The entire territory of Delkora is divided into municipalities, with no unincorporated areas. As a result, some municipalities consist of only a few small towns and large stretches of uninhabited forests or grasslands.

The exact procedures by which counties and municipalities are formed and governed vary between states. In general, a county is governed by a county council consisting of anywhere between 5 and 30 members. The council proposes ordinances that then have to be approved by the county commission, usually a smaller body with anywhere between 3 and 10 members that serves as the executive branch of county government. Members of both are elected using proportional representation, with council members being elected as representatives of the county's constituent municipalities, while commissioners are elected at-large, representing the entire county.

Municipalities are typically governed collectively by a municipal council elected using proportional representation, with the council president serving as a ceremonial "mayor." The largest municipalities have a separately elected mayor. Large metropolitan areas often have the status of both a county and municipality, with the municipal council in these areas exercising the functions of both a county and municipal council.

As of 2019, there are 372 counties in Delkora and 4,658 municipalities.

List

Coat of Arms	State	Capital	Head of State	Head of Government	Legislature	Population	Chamber of Representatives Seats
File:BandorelSeal.png	Bandorel	Falbaard	High Lord Taeren IV	Vynharm Daerendal (Kon)	Bandorelan Parliament	14,005,519	75
File:CybriaSeal.png	Cybria	Eldenvard	High Lord Æsa VII	Kamila Boerenheim (NL)	Cybrian Parliament	28,805,912	155
File:FaureliaSeal.png	Faurelia	Jaerevik	High Lord Gustaff III	Anjela Austren (L)	Faurelian Assembly	23,782,252	128
File:LyboffSeal.png	Lyboff	Raikonyr	High Lord Falymyr II	Ælidyr Valdenör (Kon)	Lyboff House of Deputies	953,421	5
File:NorenstalSeal.png	Norenstal	-	High Lord Adele II	Eva Dafengar (NL)	Norenstal Assembly	8,528,475	46
File:NorviaSeal.png	Norvia	Grafholmen	High Lord Brette VIII	Tobias Talbengar (L)	Norvish House of Delegates	5,182,742	28
File:VassengaardSeal.png	Vassengaard	Izenhoth	High Lord Drothmar III	Fyörvyn Dorbenger (L)	Vassengaard Parliament	11,785,621	63