Location: the West Pacific

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The United Socialist States of Saulth is a massive, economically powerful nation, ruled by President Archer with an iron fist, and remarkable for its anti-smoking policies. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 2.14 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 juggles the competing demands of Defence, Law & Order, and Healthcare. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Kazarik. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 76%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, followed by Gambling and Soda Sales.

Businesses have become paranoid as waves of lawsuits sweep the nation, the alarmingly racist TV show 'Bigtopians Say the Darndest Things' is a hit, otherwise healthy people are being sent to internment camps because they have VODAIS, and muscular women are banned from competing in sporting competitions. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Saulth's national animal is the Shriek, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, its national religion is Archerism, and its currency is the Bacon.

Saulth is ranked 84th in the West Pacific and 4,067th 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