Location: Mars

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Dominion of The Red Bears of Mars is a colossal, economically powerful nation, remarkable for its complete absence of social welfare. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 5.29 billion are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The minute, corrupt, pro-business government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defence, and Education. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 4%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Gambling, Book Publishing, and Soda Sales industries.

Gun ownership is compulsory, protesters are up in arms over new nuclear power stations, the nation has become a pariah for giving pirates letters of marque, and private business has started paving paradises and putting up parking lots. Crime is a serious problem. The Red Bears of Mars's national animal is the thoat, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the breath.

The Red Bears of Mars is ranked 2nd in Mars and 12,063rd in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -7 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and