Location: Lazarus

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Grand Principality of Shataristan is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its strong anti-business politics. Its compassionate, hard-working, cynical population of 2.782 billion are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Commerce. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Jahromabad. The average income tax rate is 51%. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Book Publishing.

Shoppers have literally had their hands full since plastic bags were banned, rumours have it that a secret police is responsible for the recent spate of missing persons, badminton was recently banned due to 'unacceptable violence' inherent to the game, and senior citizens can usually be found doing heavy manual labour. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Shataristan's national animal is the Gazelle, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Noa.

Shataristan is ranked 1,905th in Lazarus and 58,397th in the world for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 0 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and