Spotlight on:

“Never Again”

The Republic of Esperis is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its unlimited-speed roads. Its compassionate, cynical population of 806 million are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 66%, and even higher for the wealthy. A substantial private sector is dominated by the Furniture Restoration industry.

The government extracts trade concessions from poor nations in exchange for humanitarian aid, child adoption by homosexual couples has been outlawed, all major public areas are watched by police surveillance cameras, and democratic debates have been removed from the government. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Esperis's national animal is the owl, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the phoenix.

Esperis is ranked 111th in the region and 4,591st in the world for Most Godforsaken.