Location: the West Pacific

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Queendom of Layia is a massive, genial nation, ruled by Albert Hammond Jr with a fair hand, and remarkable for its hatred of cheese. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 2.459 billion are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

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, Defence, and Education. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of San Cisco. The average income tax rate is 94%, and even higher for the wealthy. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Tourism.

Senior citizens can usually be found doing heavy manual labour, teenage fathers are forced to join the army, unstable couples are known to break up over which one gets parental leave, and Red Cross demand for body bags are rising while sutures are decreasing. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Layia's national animal is the Wombats, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the Naked and Famous.

Layia is ranked 3,679th in the West Pacific and 83,633rd in the world for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -3 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and