Location: Balder

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Interstellar Kingdom of Riltonia is a massive, economically powerful nation, ruled by Empress Morwen Nikali with an iron fist, and remarkable for its complete absence of social welfare. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 2.094 billion are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, pro-business government stops and the rest of society begins, but it devotes most of its attentions to Defence, with areas such as Social Equality and Social Welfare receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Cartaria. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 53%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, followed by Information Technology and Automobile Manufacturing.

Citizens have reported seeing strange rays of light emanating from the moon, rag-wearing teachers are often mistaken for homeless people, vanity is considered the eighth cardinal virtue, and the alarmingly racist TV show 'Bigtopians Say the Darndest Things' is a hit. Crime is moderate, probably because of the country's utter lack of prisons. Riltonia's national animal is the Dragon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the Templar Coin.

Riltonia is ranked 1,812th in Balder and 89,019th in the world for Most Compassionate Citizens, scoring -67 on the Kitten Softness Rating.

Preview

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and