Location: Conservative Paradise

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Kingdom of St Edmund is a gargantuan, economically powerful nation, renowned for its complete absence of social welfare. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 13.982 billion are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.

There is no government in the normal sense of the word; however, a small group of community-minded, pro-business individuals devotes most of its attentions to Education, with areas such as Social Equality and Social Welfare receiving almost no funds by comparison. Income tax is unheard of. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Book Publishing, Automobile Manufacturing, and Gambling industries.

The latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, there are no minimum wage laws, the streets are increasingly clogged with poverty-stricken beggars, and record sales of 'child-whacking sticks' have been recorded. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. St Edmund's national animal is the dolphin, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the mark.

St Edmund is ranked 11th in Conservative Paradise and 19,356th in the world for Most Politically Free, scoring 74 on the Diebold Election Inking Scale.

Preview

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and