Location: California

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Protectorate of Puddeln is a massive, safe nation, ruled by Sir Haimish and Dame Shayna with an even hand, and renowned for its compulsory vegetarianism. Its compassionate population of 3.626 billion have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

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 Puddeln City. The average income tax rate is 58%, 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.

All marriages are arranged by the government, multiple polls have christened the newly-formed Filibuster Committee as "the least efficient government bureaucracy", parents must choose their children's names from a government-mandated master list, and illegal hunting is rife after veganism was recently made compulsory. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Puddeln's national animal is the Standard Poodle, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Kibble.

Puddeln is ranked 21st in California and 96,137th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -28 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and