Spotlight on:

“History is everything....so far.”

The Kingdom of Soem is a massive, safe nation, remarkable for its museums and concert halls. Its hard-nosed, hard-working population of 4.715 billion are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Social Welfare. The average income tax rate is 85%. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising fourteen-year-old boys selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

Bicyclists are banned from major roads, the government has declined to declare any particular religion as its 'official' one, a nation-wide cull of Snarks is in effect, and guns are banned. 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 193rd in the region and 6,651st in the world for Highest Unemployment Rates.