Izlegal

Izlegal, officially the Seventh Free Radical Revolutionary Republic of the territories of the Ethnic Izlegalians (commonly shortened to the Free Revolutionary Republic of Izlegal), is a landlocked country in eastern Alutra within the Serpentine region bordering Chijeragne on the east, Martland and Hilnizbors to the south, and Aquizireiki on the north and north east. The capital is Silburskip as well as being the largest city in population and commercial output. It stretches for 216,334 km2, all held under direct control of the central government, splitting it into nine provinces which all follow a centralized planned economy abiding to strict guidelines mandated by the constitution of the Seventh Republic.

Once occupied by the Gožyar, the region known today as Izlegal fell under a collection of tribal migrations during early 1st century BC. Since then the area was under nomadic tribes of varying sizes before they centralized under a collection of tribal councils, the most influential of which being the gulþ Council formed by the tribe of the same name. They would later centralize as the titular kingdom of gulþ, creating a multitude of small city states across the length of the Izlegal river before succumbing to anarchy after the final king of the gulþ chieftain lineage, !theking, passed away creating many successor cities. These River kingdoms cooperated weary of one another until the conquests of Silburskip, one of the most powerful dominions in the region, who reunified the Izlegalians and proceeded to form the Kingdom of Izlegal in 852 AD which showed promise in it's region before being absorbed by the Kingdom of the Aquizi. Izlegal would remain a regional term again until 1857 following large uprisings demanding local representation whereupon a various collection of counties and municipalities were created for local representation. These proved lacking as there would be many more cries from representation within the Aquizi-Martic Union. Izlegal would be placed under a viceroyality in 1940 following the Union civil war in 1933. Almost immediately the viceroyality was overthrown following the disruption and outbreak of violence at the peace talks leading the military, holding leftist appeal, declared themselves independent and began an effort of defense.

While initially popular, much of the lower command were highly revanchist and demanded an aggressive policy. A coup broke out leading to the formation of the 2nd Izlegalian Republic and heightened tensions in the area. Further republics, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th appeared and collapsed following military command disagreements in situations including economic directions, political structure, and other fundamentals of the state. The situation reached a breaking point in 1988 after a mass public revolt saw the formation of the 6th republic and hoped to reduce military tensions and conflict in the region. While succeeding initially, the state couldn't cope after tensions rose again and saw a spike in military control. The military seized control of the state in 2005 declaring the 7th republic and the promise of de-escalation in the region. They maintained their promise with the signing of the Hilnizbors accords in 2011, bringing a more stable peace to the Serpentine countries unexperienced since the collapse of the union. Izlegal is noted as being the most unsuccessful state in the region due to it's poor corrupt government, it is the poorest country in the Serpentines is greatly antagonistic against its neighbours, a behaviour that has reduced since 2011. Izlegal keeps itself away from global affairs and does not participate in any economic bloc or international organizations excluding the World Forum.

Geography and climate
At 216,334 square kilometers, Izlegal is the smallest country and second smallest sovereign nation (ahead of Hilnizbors) in the Serpentine Region. The country is split almost in half by its defining natural feature, the Izlegal River, that stretches across its whole length and creates some of the border of Aquizireiki. This river splits the two major geographic regions of Izlegal of which there are three in total: the mountainous valleys of the east, the lowlands of the south west, and the plateau of the north west. Compared to the rest of the region's mountains, Izlegal holds the lowest high point at a peak of [NUMBER] m above sea level. The Izlegal river has been a defining feature of the region since its settlement by the Izlegalian people, who occupied the river and lived off of it for centuries and has been a source of political strife and divide during the regions time of the river kingdoms. The generally flat land of the Izlegal region permitted for the popular use of horseriding and cavalry, famously being some of the most proficient in the Unions army.

Climate
Izlegal is a very homogenous country with its climate, being in the region of the great grass belt, alongside Aquizireiki. Majority of Izlegal is classified under the Koppen model as cold semi-arid (BSk) with some rain shadows produced by the [Mountain] range creating two small cold deserts (BWk) in its east and north west. About 80% of the population live within the grassland climate. To the far south, Izlegal holds a small stretch of oceanic climate (cfb)

Demographics
According to state based numbers, Izlegal possesses a population of 9,202,155. From this the country has a population density of approximately 42.54 km2 overall, much of it dispersed across the countryside due to low density in many of the nations cities excluding Silburskip, which alone holds 20.7% of the total Izlegalian population, and the provincial capitals. Around 62.5% of the total population live in one of the 9 provincial capitals located on or near the Izlegal river. Since the 1990's, Izlegal has had a steadily reducing fertility rate that stands at 2.53 in 2018

Ethnic groups
Izlegal is under a highly unitary culture of Izlegalian which comprises 82.8% of the total population, numbering at 7,619,384 native Izlegalians. This hegemony of the Izlegalian culture comes from the disputes over cultural territory that plauged the serpentine region for over seventy years. By the end of these wars, Izlegal had claimed all of the territory they deemed as rightfully Izlegalian. the smaller 17.2% consists of neighbouring serpentine nations including the Aquizireikigs (10.1%, around 929,417 people), Chijeres (6.2%, 570,533), and the Martic (0.9%, 82,819) people. Each of these groups are found near the borders, Aquizigs most commonly remaining in the north, while Marts and Chijeres exclusively remain in the southern half of the country, Marts typically remaining around the city of [City] near Hilnizbors. Izlegal does not allow groups outside of the Serpentine region into the country under their policy of international affair isolation. Serpentine cultures are only permitted due to the former decisions of the 6th republic in allowing the cultural freedom of movement for Serpentine nationals, and later as part of the agreement of the Hilnizbors accords.

Education
Izlegal has it that all citizens must attend an education institution from age 6 to 15. All schools are publicly owned and funded with only tertiary education charging tuition fees. The education system in Izlegal is largely underfunded causing discrepancies in education curriculum and school hours. Schools within cities and other locales of high population density typically use the full curriculum outlined by the board of educators and function for the full six hour day. Schools in the outskirts however are far more archaic due to their lesser funding. Some are only capable of teaching a portion or even know the contents of the year's curriculum and may only have half days due to teachers not receiving a full salary. This has caused an educational discrepancy leading to a considerable portion of the population being partially literate and not possessing some educational basics (maths, science, humanities) that are a common standard for most other nations. The most recent state reports have pegged the partial literacy rate at around 88% with only 43% of that being fully literate based on outlines by the education board.

Only a handful of universities exist across Izlegal. All require tuition fees due to the incapability of the state to fully fund the universities, despite being publicly owned. The universities are known to function typically better then their primary and secondary education counterparts, however, they have low enrollment rates with only 8.6% of the population having enrolled for a university at some point in their life. Only two universities in the country have generally consistent enrollment rates; Silburskip State University, and Naurþrsahwa Provincial University. Both are notably staffed by foreign professors and are generally claimed as being the best tertiary institutions in the country in terms of graduation rate and quality of education.

The Revolutionary Council has outlined they will tackle the discrepancies in education during stage III of the New way forward project which is slotted to be initiated in 2023 with the conclusion of stage II.

Language
Izlegal only recognizes Izlegalian as the official language of the republic and the only language used in any public institution. 97% of the population has been recognized as having a capable grasp of the Izlegalian language. 17.2% of the population personally claim a separate language as their first, this lining up with the minority groups and their respective language these being Chijeroiș, Marta, and Aquizi. Of these three, Aquizi is the only one that is partially recognized and is even permitted for some use in the northern provinces due to the high concentration of Aquizirekigs in the area.