Çerid Autonomous State

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Çerid Autonomous State Donetaghçeridkashan
State of  Alduria
[[File:|125px|Flag of the Çerid Autonomous State|frameless]] Flag [[File:|90px|Coat of arms of theÇerid Autonomous State|frameless]] Coat of arms
Location of the Çerid Autonomous State
Motto	Donetagh Kinramin ("We Stand Unrestrained")
Anthem
Subdivision	Autonomous region
Capital	Aladurkidal
Largest cities	Aladurkidal
Area
- Ranked
Population	2,183 (1704 AN)
- Ranked
Governor	Farzin Torres
Kalashegtin (Great Speaker)	Eghiri par Talim
Legislature	Takileshidgul (Assembly of Representatives)
Established	1699 AN
Languages	Çervelik, Alexandrian, Constancian, Babkhi
Local religion	Predominantly Taghlishen, some syncretism with Melusinianism, Alexandrian Nazarene
Abreviation
Time Zone	CMT+4

Name

Despite the terminology of the name, the Çerid Autonomous State is legally an autonomous region of Alduria. Its designation as "Çerid" is, simply enough, for the species inhabiting it. Its Çervelik name, Donetaghçeridkashan, is merely an approximate translation of the Micrasian name, though its literal meaning is more accurately rendered as the Unrestrained Çerid Household.

Geography

The territory of the CAS lies to the east of, and borders on, Lake Nerub in north-central Eura. It lies between the Aldurian state of Villalba to the north, and the Constancian territories of Molivadia to the east and Nouradin City to the south.

The CAS occupies lies mostly in a wide, shallow valley that it shares with the neighboring surrounds of Wahda in Villalba. The northeastern end of the CAS extends into shallow hills from which most of Lake Nerub's eastern tributaries flow through the valley, forming draws and gullies in a largely rolling landscape. The terrain becomes flatter and lower toward the south and particularly the west, adjoining the lake.

Climate

Though south of the rainforests of far northern Eura and rather drier, the CAS does not extend into the desert zones of central Eura; it consists mostly of tropical savanna in the west and tropical dry forests in the east.

Politics

Levels of government

In Çeridgul and other Çer-inhabited lands, government had traditionally been heavily decentralized to nonexistent. As part of the consultation process involved in planning the formation of the CAS, it was quietly made clear to the Çerid that some form of government empowered to create and enforce law and maintain order, encoded in the Statute of Autonomy, was going to have to be created - and acknowledged by those living in the territory. The result, while not as absent of centralized authority as previous structures, is an attempt to achieve what the Çerid consider a viable balance between a central and local authority.

Kashangulid

The populated parts of the CAS are divided into kashangulid (sing. kashangul), sometimes referred to by humans as hundreds, parishes or communes. Kashangulid are local administrations responsible for maintaining infrastructure and local cleanliness, and also serve as legislative constituencies. Each kashangul is administered by a small, usually three-person, steering committee whose members are chosen by direct election every year. This committee is responsible for receiving, managing, and responsibly spending funds allocated by the state government, particularly in using it to hire workers or companies to perform maintenance work.

Kashangulid almost never having more than 150 Çerid living within their bounds, only some of whom are qualified to vote, the committees are not merely responsible to, but very intimately affected by, public opinion. "Town hall" meetings and informal referenda both guide and hinder a committee's work on a frequent basis.

There is one special non-territorial kashangul, devoted to migratory males. While it is managed in much the same way as any other kashangul, its responsibilities are different; rather than maintaining infrastructure in a particular region, it instead pays the upkeep for various hostels, wilderness huts, and campsites scattered around the state for the use of Çer menfolk on the move, and serves also as a kind of park ranger service to monitor the use of wilderness areas and prevent their overexploitation.

Central bodies

The state legislature, the Takileshidgul (usually translated "Assembly of Representatives") consists of 17 seats. The seats are allocated to kashangulid on the basis of population; each kashangul is a multi-member district with a number of seats roughly proportional to its population. Elections are held concurrently with regional and federal elections.

The Takileshidgul is the sole legislative body of the CAS. The legislature's competence is subordinate to the regional and federal governments, but generally is not rigidly circumscribed provided that the state government remains democratic and transparently accountable though laws can be, and often are, forced into reexamination by popular initiative.

The CAS' head of government, the Kalashegtin ("Great Speaker"), is chosen by and from the takileshid holding the legislative seats. As of 1706 AN, there are few political groupings in any organized sense, and factional activity in the Takileshidgul consists mainly of temporary alliances and cliques; therefore the Kalashegtin is generally expected to be an impartial and well-liked negotiator rather than strongly representing a particular area or faction. That said, even the best Kalashegtin is tested by the contentiousness of her colleagues; the famously physical altercations occasioned by legislative debates has become a valued form of entertainment for those Çerid with access to radio, television, or the Internet, and increasingly also in Alduria at large.

Economy

The economy of the Çerid Autonomous State, a fairly new entity in political terms, is still very much in development. Although the Çerid who moved to the CAS are no strangers to the entrepreneurial spirit and many economic ideas such as private property, contracts, employment, and rent, they have no experience with the outside monitoring of economic data. Much of the local economic movement remains small-scale and informal, neither being tracked nor taxed. The official budget of the CAS currently derives from higher government funding.

Most Çerid come from a background where the largest enterprises are essentially cottage industries, a fact which is only now beginning to change; formal employment is relatively rare. Since there is little physical infrastructure and, indeed, a fairly rudimentary built environment of any kind, construction remains a particularly busy sphere of activity, and such money as government and takileshid can provide is often prioritized toward it.