Location: the South Pacific

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Peopledom of Soem is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, renowned for its keen interest in outer space. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 10.197 billion enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Social Welfare, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 69%, 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.

Charged suspects often have to wait years before the courts have room to judge their trial, teams of painters are converting road signs from horse lengths to kilometers, it is illegal for police officers to carry out searches due to strict privacy laws, and muscular women are banned from competing in sporting competitions. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Soem's national animal is the Snark, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Idea.

Soem is ranked 4,702nd in the South Pacific and 101,224th in the world for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring -12 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and