Enumerate the distinctive features of state

The essential features of a state are best summarized by Oppenheim’s International Law: “There are [...] four conditions which must be obtained for the existence of a state. There must, first, be a people... There must, second, be a territory in which the people is settled... There must, third, be a government... There must, fourth and last, be a sovereign government.”
Without people, there can be no state. This means a population is the first thing a state needs. States require fixed boundaries relative to other states. That means you need to be able to draw the state on a map, which also involves the recognition or lack of recognition from neighboring states.
Furthermore, the state needs to be able to exercise sovereignty over their own territories. When a state lacks that authority, it's prone to becoming a colony, which is typically developed to be exploited the colonizer.
Like the body needs a brain, the state needs a government to maintain order, enforce laws, and provide services. Governments exercise what political theorists like Thomas Hobbes have called a monopoly on legitimate violence. The state's use of violence is legitimized based on the consent of its people, which allows the state to collect taxes, punish wrongdoers, and so on. 
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes-moral/