Location: Greater Dienstad

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Holy Empire of Stevid is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Prime Minister David Conroy with a fair hand, and renowned for its keen interest in outer space. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, intelligent population of 18.967 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, corrupt government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defence, and Religion & Spirituality. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Stevid Capita. The average income tax rate is 92%, and even higher for the wealthy. A powerhouse of a private sector is dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry.

Schoolchildren have twice-weekly sex education classes, the nation's new foreign policy of 'very disproportionate retribution' has its neighbors on edge, the nation is ravaged by daily union strikes, and the nation's massive battleships are often mistaken for islands. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Stevid's national animal is the Coyote, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, its national religion is Roman Catholicism, and its currency is the Pound.

Stevid is ranked 5th in Greater Dienstad and 1,496th in the world for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 9 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and