Location: Europe

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The United Empire of Otterner is a massive, safe nation, ruled by Joseph Sleek with a fair hand, and renowned for its punitive income tax rates. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 1.517 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, corrupt government stops and the rest of society begins, but it devotes most of its attentions to Law & Order, with areas such as Social Equality and Religion & Spirituality receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Otternash. The average income tax rate is 76%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Gambling industry, followed by Soda Sales and Arms Manufacturing.

Criminals are thrown to the Otters to repay their debt to society, motels cater primarily to adulterers, the loom represents the height of Otterner's technology, and public footpaths are being slowly eroded by the burgeoning number of ramblers. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Otterner's national animal is the Otter, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Otternern Pound.

Otterner is ranked 298th in Europe and 82,279th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -18 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and