Location: Urbanites

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Kingdom of Tar-Palantir is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by King Ar-Pharazôn the Golden with a fair hand, and notable for its restrictive gun laws. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 18.915 billion love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Social Welfare, Education, and the Environment. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Minas Tirith. The average income tax rate is 97%. 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.

The government is spending millions on renovating the public transportation system, prisoners work-share to cut down rising costs of keeping them in jail, morning coffees are no longer the same since the disappearance of newspapers, and the nation has welcomed its expats back with open arms. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Tar-Palantir's national animal is the hillyfilly, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the inzil.

Tar-Palantir is ranked 12th in Urbanites and 100,443rd in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -45 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and