Location: Haven

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Armed Fortress State of Bretton is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, ruled by Chancellor Donner with an even hand, and remarkable for its complete lack of public education. Its hard-nosed, hard-working population of 20.029 billion enjoy some of the most opulent lifestyles in the region, unless they are unemployed or working-class, in which case they are variously starving to death or crippled by easily preventable diseases.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, pro-business government stops and the rest of society begins, but it devotes most of its attentions to Defence, with areas such as the Environment and Social Equality receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Brettonia. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 67%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Information Technology industries.

The people are famous throughout the region for their bleached-white teeth, the streets are increasingly clogged with poverty-stricken beggars, Bretton's army is full of two-metre tall super-soldiers, and the Bretton Enquirer offers weekly cash prizes for 'most blasphemous song, story, or cartoon'. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Bretton's national animal is the golden eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, its national religion is atheism, and its currency is the jion.

Bretton is ranked 3rd in Haven and 1,123rd in the world for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 10 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.

Preview

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and