Location: British Isles

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Kingdom of Taratiere is a massive, genial nation, ruled by Seigneur John Michael Beaumont with an even hand, and renowned for its unlimited-speed roads. Its compassionate, hard-working population of 2.261 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 Commerce, Education, and Defence. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sark. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 56%. 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.

Laws are littered with references to cheese, euthanasia is illegal, ethnic minorities are often refused admission to some of the nation's best schools, and citizens receive notices of disenfranchisement along with their parking tickets. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is well under control, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Taratiere's national animal is the Lioness, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the Pound.

Taratiere is ranked 460th in British Isles and 121,486th in the world for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring -15 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.

NationStates by Max Barry, author of and