Location: Lazarus

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Benevolent Dictatorship of Laerod is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Andrew Lasius with an iron fist, and notable for its anti-smoking policies. Its compassionate, cynical population of 15.486 billion are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Social Welfare, and the Environment. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Cascade. The average income tax rate is 100%. 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.

Laerod has been recently classified as an international menace after 'liberating' several nearby territories, the government is making attempts at curtailing the flood of spam emails with little progress, Laerod is notorious for its citizens' infidelity, and all recreational drugs are legal. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Laerod's national animal is the raven, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the tarad.

Laerod is ranked 26th in Lazarus and 263rd in the world for Most Compassionate Citizens, scoring 237 on the Kitten Softness Rating.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and