Location: Texas

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Gigantic Frozen Igloo of Studly Penguins is a colossal, cultured nation, ruled by Hiram Fox with an even hand, and renowned for its irreverence towards religion. Its hard-nosed, intelligent population of 5.643 billion have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Defence, Education, and Law & Order. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Fort McGuire. The average income tax rate is 56%, and even higher for the wealthy. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, followed by Gambling and Information Technology.

The welfare administration’s new sweeping authority has forced the poor and needy to shop from pre-approved grocery lists, computer users are buried daily in thousands of unsolicited emails, the airship business has been driven out of the country by strict regulations and high fines, and hundreds of thousands of convicts work as slaves in Studly Penguins's many privately-owned prisons. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is moderate. Studly Penguins's national animal is the Super-Hyped Up Penguin, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the Krone.

Studly Penguins is ranked 39th in Texas and 8,314th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring 4 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and