Location: My temporary hiding place

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Empire of Nordgard is a huge, genial nation, renowned for its devotion to social welfare. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 711 million 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, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Social Welfare, and the Environment. The average income tax rate is 72%, 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.

Strict term limits have been applied to all elected offices, long arduous trials are held for the most trivial of offences, politicians are to be found scavenging bins at night to supplement their income, and a niche industry catering to S&M enthusiasts has sprung up. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown. Nordgard's national animal is the Wild Sabertooths, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the Trade of favors and agreement system.

Nordgard is ranked 3rd in My temporary hiding place and 86,678th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -20 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and