Asturies-Llión (roleplay)

Asturies-Llión, officially the Asturllionese Federal Socialist Republic (República Federal Socialista Asturllionesa) is a country located in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Cantabrian Sea (Atlantic Ocean), to the west by Portugal, and to the north-west, east and south by Spain. It is a member of The Leftist Assembly.

Etymology
Asturies-Llión is used as an oversimplification of the name of the country, due to its recent formation. The official name is Asturllionese Federal Socialist Republic, in which "Asturllionese" comes from the Asturllionese language. Asturllionese and Asturies-Llión are the result of the conjunction of two names of different territories: Asturies and Llión.

Asturies
The term Asturies receives the name of its ancient settlers, the Astures, primitive inhabitants of the banks of the Astura River (Esla). The name of Astures encompassed not only those of the Meseta (cismontanos), but also those to the north of the cantabric mountains (transmontanos).

Astura must have taken the root of Celtic; stour, which means "river." This toponym appears in Brittany, where Pliny speaks of the river "Stur"; today there are three Stour rivers in Kent, Suffolk and Dorset. At the mouth of the Elbe there is another river Stör, formerly called "Sturia". Also, in Piedmont the Celtic tribe of the Esturi and a river Stura were located. The same root persists even today in Gaelic and Breton in the words ster and stour, meaning "river."

Llión
The origin of the name of this comes from the Latin word legio, which refers to the legion that founded the city in its current location. This thesis, commonly accepted, is reinforced with the still valid name "legionense" to refer to the inhabitants of the city. The evolution from Legio to Llión is easily explained, because in classical Latin, the gi is pronounced as if it were a gui, so the pronunciation of Legio would be Leguio, something that ended up leading to Leio or Leionem, which in turn ended in the current name of Llión.

Llión is the name of the city, but its name was extended to the Llionese Region after the medieval Kingdom of León.

Territorial Organization
The Asturllionese FSR is divided in 4 socialist republics and an autonomous province. Republics and the Autonomous Province are divided in provinces, of which there are 12. At the same time, provinces are divided in comarcas (which can vary in name), and those in municipalities. Municipalities can be divided in even smaller units, whose name and role depends on the distribution of population and traditional uses.

Republics and Autonomous Provinces
The four republics are Asturies, Cantabria, Llión and Estremaúra. The only autonomous province is the Pisuerga Sources Autonomous Province (Fuentes del Pisuerga). The difference between a republic and an autonomous province is the level of importance and its attributions, the autonomous province of the Pisuerga Sources depends in many aspects on Cantabria and Llión. The reason of this difference is the need of a certain level of autonomy for the province, since it is the only area in which castilian (spanish) is official, but its small size and low population is not enough for being a full republic. The next administrative level is the province, which is contained in the republic. However, in some cases the republic only has one province, like Asturies, Cantabria and, obviously, the Pisuerga Sources, where the exclusive provincial administration is not needed.

Provinces and Comarcas
As stated before, provinces are the second level administrative divisions. In cases like Asturies, Cantabria and the Pisuerga Sources provinces exist, but their administration is blended with the first level one. The list of the provinces is the following: Asturies, Cantabria, El Bierzu, Llión, Zamora, Salamanca, Pisuerga, Caçris, Prasencia, Badahós, Don Benitu, Méria.

Comarcas are the next level, and the core of the country's organization. Comarcas are contained in their respective provinces, but they are more important in day-to-day politics, with direct representation in the Federal Assembly (the whole country's legislature) and in many other administrative bodies and agencies. There is only a cases of a coincidental province and comarca, this being El Bierzu.

Municipalities and lower divisions
As the whole national system relies on delegative democracy, neighbourhood councils are important, and in order to reach them in many cases lower divisions than the municipality are needed. These divisions depend on the distribution of population in the municipalities, varying from neighbourhoods in cities to direct administration of the municipality, passing through parish-like divisions.

World Heritage Sites
Asturies-Llión has 10 World Heritage Sites. These include the paleolithic cave art of the northern Iberian Peninsula, which is shared with Spain, the Prehistoric Rock Art Sites of the Côa Valley and Siega Verde, which is shared with Portugal and Primeval Beech Forests, shared with other countries of Europe. In addition, Asturies-Llión has also 2 Intangible cultural heritage, or "Human treasures". There are also 7 candidates.