Location: Lazarus

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Floating Island of Hyperbolic Orbit is a colossal, genial nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 8.027 billion enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, the Environment, and Religion & Spirituality. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Menaion. The average income tax rate is 91%, and even higher for the wealthy. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

Conductors wield diamond-encrusted batons to fit in with their freshly gilded surroundings, Hyperbolic Orbit-made cars tend to catch fire in people's driveways, the government has declared its commitment to multilateralism, and several citizens have complained about scientists abducting their pets for experimentation. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hyperbolic Orbit's national animal is the orbital cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Hug.

Hyperbolic Orbit is ranked 875th in Lazarus and 22,705th in the world for Most Influential, scoring 19 on the Soft Power Disbursement Rating.

Preview

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and