Luenas

Luenas ɂɩʌ̆ɛȷ Луенас’
Flag Symbol
Motto: Unity through independence ɩ̆ɜʅɾɔ ʊ̆ɤɾɔ ʅ̆ɿ̆ɾɔʌʋɔ Онета труа едупадйида
Anthem: Live on, Luenas! (ɛʅɾɔ ɷʆ, ɂɩʌ̆ɛȷ! / Лйп он, Луенас’)
Location of the Luenas
Location	Old World/New World
Capital	Dashevodnaiye
Official languages	Lyoonos, Lunarian
Ethnic groups	• Lyoonos 42% • Lunarian 36% • Adborthos 15% • Other 7%
Religion	Birahe, Luenasi
Demonym	Drakona: Lyhosi, Luenasi Lunarian: Luenaryeha, Lunarian
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
President	Mayiyan Agye
Head of the Yogetapapalidaija	Gopesin Dabarejin
Legislature	Bicameral
Upper House	Sypalidaija
Lower House	Nypalidaija
Area
- Total	tbc
- Water	negligible
Population
- Estimate	69,252
- Density	tbc
Currency	Arakne (ͽ)

The Luenas (Lyoonos: ɂɩʌ̆ɛȷ; Lyhosi; Lyoonos pronunciation: /ˈlaɪˌhoʊ.siː/ or Lyoonos pronunciation: /ˈliːˌhoʊ.siː/, Lunarian: Луенас’; Luenas) is an extralegal and extrajudicial unincorporated region outside the west borders of the Adborthos Republic, Arieles Kingdom and Kryfona Kingdom that is host to a little over 69,000 people as of the 2015 census, mostly Lyoonos and Lunarians. Although largely wilderness and unclaimed territory, the Western Luenas overlaps heavily with the mostly-unrecognized Republic of Lunaria and more officially, the Federatsija Elųnessia. A significant plurality of the population of the Luenas lives in the city of Dashevodnaiye, which has a population of 24,000 people and is officially a part of Lunaria. Owing to the massive split between Drakona and Lunarians, most of the population is bilingual, speaking both Lunarian and Lyoonos.

The government system of the Luenas is a unitary parliamentary republic with a bicameral legislature known as the Yogetapapalidaija ("Unified Parliament"). Unlike many political systems, the Luenas separately elects a president and a "vice-president" position, which takes the form of the Head of the Yogetapapalidaija. The Head of the Yogetapapalidaija as well as the two legislative bodies (the Sypalidaija and the Nypalidaija) are elected once every five years as well, but the elections take place off-cycle from presidential elections. The Head oversees both bodies, and if necessary casts tiebreak votes on legislation.

The Luenas is the subject of a curious three-way land dispute between the Federatsija, Lunaria, and the Luenas government because although most of the Luenas is wilderness, part of its territory and most of its population is contained within land that is de jure owned by the Federatsija, and de facto owned and governed by Lunaria. Similarly, the majority of the infrastructure utilized by the Luenas government is either a part of the infrastructure of Lunaria, or part of the infrastructure of the Federatsija. The dispute began in 1977, but did not become significant until Lunaria reestablished itself in 1982. Since then, the status of the Luenas has been subject to national and worldwide debate. Officially, the Federatsija rejects the existence of the Luenas as an infringement of its land; however, because Lunaria controls the land in question, the Federatsija is largely powerless to actually evict the Luenas. Lunaria itself takes a similar stance on the issue, but because the Luenas' population makes up much of the Lunarian population and because the Luenas provides workers for Lunaria, the Lunarian government has been hesitant to take action. Compounding the troubles, Lunaria lacks the resources to evict the Luenasi anyways. Thus, although neither the Federatsija nor Lunaria want the Luenas, the Luenas has been for the most part left to its own devices since the beginning of the dispute.

The Luenas is one of the two major unincorporated territories of the Old World, the other being the Lyoonos, which is much more densely populated than the Luenas. The Luenas overlaps with the Federatsija as well as Lunaria, and is bordered properly by the Kryfona Kingdom, Adborthos Republic, and a small part of the Arieles Kingdom.

History

Pre-Dal-Tetas

The Luenas region was probably colonized by dragons sometime around 75,000 years ago, although there is some evidence to suggest that the region was populated by them much earlier than that. Nonetheless, it is clear that the region has been home to dragons for a very extensive period of time. State-like societies in the region began sometime thereafter, with various nation states living and dying in the region between 75,000 and 12,000 years ago. Around this point, the Lyoonos language and the Standard Drakona language of the time diverged, along with Lyoonos dragons as a whole.

The first evidence of distinctly Lyoonos dragons in the area begins around 11,000 years ago, and roughly coincides with a state that most likely owned the entire region. This nation state was almost certainly the first properly Lyoonos society in the region, and it was alive and well for several millennia before ultimately collapsing from unknown circumstances around 7,000 years ago. Smaller, less attested-to nations filled the void of this Lyoonos-based state, but none of them are believed to have lasted for an extended period of time. For a little over four thousand years, there is much evidence to suggest that while there were several additional states that existed, the region by-and-large was composed of either small settlements or city states, not unlike many other Drakonic regions in the aftermath of state collapses. Farming in the region became widespread during this period, and likely contributed to the region's relative stability during this period.

Dal-Tetas

The Dal-Tetas as a state is known to have risen around 3,000 years ago, in what dragons of the time dated as 1753 OA. It did not rise in the Luenas–rather it did so in what is today the Adborthos Republic–but within several centuries of its establishment the future Luenas and the Lyoonos were both a part of its empire. It is unclear as to whether or not the Dal-Tetas, which was otherwise a rather peaceful state, came into conflict with the agrarian farmers of the region or if these farmers were simply annexed by choice. Nevertheless, by about 1000 OA the Luenas was fully incorporated into the western Dal-Tetas, and in fact contributed at least one king to the state in the form of Beothe III during the 800 OA period.

Beginning around 500 OA, the Luenas under the Dal-Tetas began to experience a shift in population, as what in function was land owned by the Dal-Tetas but in reality had long been controlled by the Federatsija suddenly was inundated with ponies and zebras. Although the Dal-Teras made efforts to fight this sudden inundation, they soon were forced to give up their claims on the far-west Luenas, and many of the dragons who inhabited the region were either forced to move west in kind or forced to assimilate into the Federatsija. Almost all of them chose the former option, which led to widespread famine when their new lands were found to be much less fertile than their old ones. Starvation occurred in the period between 450 OA and 400 OA on multiple occasions, and would continue well after the Gregorian calendar was adopted by the Dal-Tetas. At least thirteen instances of famine due to poor land and crop failures are known to historical record, the last of which was dealt with just decades before the Dal-Tetas collapsed entirely.

Nonetheless, many residents of the area lived quite well, and the region was otherwise described by historical documents as a "good" region to live in. An exceptionally quiet place, the historical Luenas had so few people that for over 400 years there is no record of any events in the region. The gap in the historical record of the region ends around 35 AD, and the first significant event attested to after this gap occurred around 100 AD, when a small influx of residents from the rest of the Dal-Tetas brought the population to somewhere around 25,000. The first census, taken in about 150, recorded around 25,000 dragons living in the region, or about a third of the modern population of the Luenas.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1950	43,553		—
1955	46,432		6.6%
1960	47,544		2.4%
1965	50,242		5.7%
1970	51,444		2.4%
1975	59,431		15.5%
1980	61,432		3.4%
1985	62,489		1.7%
1990	64,029		2.5%
1995	65,571		2.4%
2000	66,922		2.1%
2005	67,413		0.7%
2010	68,093		1.0%
2015	69,252		1.7%
Est. 2017	69,984		1.1%

Species and race
By species:
Drakona	57%
Aetali or Elusi	36%
Kryfona	6%
By race:
Lyoonos	42%
Lunarian	36%
Adborthos	15%
Kryfona	6.8%
Other	0.2%

The Luenas, if considered to be a recognized state, is the smallest autonomous or independent state in the Old World or the New World, with a population estimated at 69,984 in 2017. This represents a roughly 1 percent increase since the 2015 census, when 69,252 people were recorded as living in the borders of the Luenas. In terms of growth, the Luenas is a slow growing region, especially when compared to much of the Old World. Historically, it was not unusual for the Luenas to post periods of 3 percent population growth or more per five year interval. This has gone down to around 1 percent per five year interval. Birth rates nonetheless have stayed relatively the same in the past fifty years–the average Luenas resident has about 2 children, only slightly down from the 2.1 recorded in 1950. The stateless migrants and refugees which flooded the region during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are believed to account for virtually all of the region's early growth.

The Luenas is a species-split nation, with a 57% dragon and a 36% pony population. Lyoonos Drakona and Adborthos Drakona make up 42% and 15% of the population, respectively, while Lunarians make up the entirety of the 36% pony population. This split is largely the byproduct of the Luenas' overlap with the Republic of Lunaria, an ethnically pony and de facto independent state. Most of the Luenas' population is concentrated in territory which is controlled by Lunaria. Due to agreements between the two states, most citizens of Lunaria are citizens of the Luenas, and vice versa. Nonetheless, Drakona citizens of Lunaria are usually not accounted for in Federatsija censuses, nor are they typically counted in Lunarian censuses.

Unlike many of its neighbors, the Luenas does not have an abnormal population in regards to sexuality and gender. Around 2% of the population of the Luenas–slightly below the average of the Old World and a fair amount below the average of the New World–identifies as gay, asexual, or another such sexuality. As with most of the New World states and a small number of the Old World states, bisexuality is not uncommon, and is practiced by anywhere between 13% and 22% of the population. About 86% of the Luenas identifies as straight, with another 8% not declaring their sexuality.

Language

The Luenas is a functionally bilingual but practically trilingual nation, with most of the population understanding Lyoonos and Lunarian, and a plurality of the population (about 45%) understanding Elusi, the official language of the Federatsija. Lyoonos and Lunarian are the two official languages of the Luenas, and have been since a government was properly set up in 1949. Elusi and English–which around 8% of the population of the Luenas is fluent in–are not recognized as official languages, but are considered minority languages and are thus protected by law. Knowledge of English is a requirement for diplomats of the Luenas, and the government officially conducts international diplomacy in English.