Location: Free States of Gaia

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Flatulent Bleatings of Pompous Windbags is a gargantuan, economically powerful nation, ruled by Lord Maximillian with an iron fist, and notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 19.097 billion are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, moralistic government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defence, and Commerce. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Fort Windbag. The average income tax rate is 96%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, followed by Uranium Mining and Automobile Manufacturing.

Graffiti artists spend lengthy periods of time in jail, protesters are up in arms over new nuclear power stations, scenic mountain valleys are flooded with water as damming projects get underway, and a crusade against barbaric religious practices has begun. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Pompous Windbags's national animal is the kestrel, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, its national religion is Christianity, and its currency is the bone.

Pompous Windbags is ranked 2nd in Free States of Gaia and 467th in the world for Largest Mining Sector, scoring 20 on the Blue Sky Asbestos Index.

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and