So this is my headcanon for countryhuman states/provinces/cantons or any other name you could give them!
So they are like ghosts, usually they appear as small light balls(similar to fireflies or fairies) flying near a country they belong to. They can turn into their "countryhuman form". They can disappear or better said become invisible. Most of the time they are visible only to a country they belong to. But they can become visible to others(at their own will),while still being transparent. So I see that states of the country aren't their siblings, relatives or like uhh kids. They are simply ghosts that can talk to them from time to time, when they want to. It's same with united countries (like USA or UK), their states are ghosts.
They also don't have some mother/father, they just start existing like *poof* nothing deep.
And yes sometimes statehumans want to become independent, then they become physical (which is really rare), and some countrys of course don't see them as independent, they see them as part of another country (examples: Kosovo, Abkhazia,South Ossetia).
Also some lands that became states(like Alaska or Hawaii) basically turn into ghosts by some magic or something.
I don't have a headcanon for cityhumans as they are not that common.
(^^)
Ask questions if i left something out!