Location: Balder

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The King-Fearing Empire of Castelade is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Norm the Opressive with an iron fist, and notable for its anti-smoking policies. Its hard-working, cynical population of 3.226 billion are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Defence, Law & Order, and Social Equality. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bacelta. The average income tax rate is 50%, and even higher for the wealthy. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Tourism, Gambling, and Soda Sales industries.

The government extracts trade concessions from poor nations in exchange for humanitarian aid, welfare funding has recently gone through the roof, the government is making attempts at curtailing the flood of spam emails with little progress, and the Holy Office of the Inquisition is the highest court in the land. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Castelade's national animal is the Leopard, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, its national religion is Normanism, and its currency is the Denari.

Castelade is ranked 2,035th in Balder and 82,200th in the world for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -2 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and