That sort of literacy is _very_ "semi-", but would be reasonably feasible anywhere with a logographic script. The example of Pelanda was cited already, I think. OTOH, maybe the Kralori are just that bit fonder of signposts...
The real difference in Kralorela is that it is, to a far greater extent than anywhere else, a bureaucracy in the literal sense of the word. If one wants to get ahead, one'd be better off with Write 10W2 than you would with Close Combat 10W2, and at least in theory obtaining same is open to a large fraction of the populace. (In practice, the "mandarin class" is going to be self-perpetuating to a greater or lesser extent, as MOB points out rather gleefully in his article on the topic.) Obviously the government itself only requires relatively few literates, but it's still likely to have something of a "trickle down" effect. (One might imagine, however, just for contrast, backwaters where local laws _prohibit_ the plebs from literacy, in a manner similar to the control warrior-nobilities have occasionally exerted on the means of making war, but that would be a decided anomaly.)
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