"I suppose that depends on what the state was doing." There's a faint, curious pinch between Gonou's eyebrows, considering; he adds after a moment, "I should tell you, I suppose, that I come from a world without much that might be considered a state. At least, not in my part of it. There are towns, and town councils or headsmen, but when it comes to levers of the state--"

A tiny shrug: he doesn't even unclasp his hands from his knee to execute it.

"I don't have much context."