Location: Lazarus

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Armed Republic of Topikea is a huge, economically powerful nation, renowned for its anti-smoking policies. Its hard-working, cynical population of 809 million are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, moralistic government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Defence, Law & Order, and Education. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Skyrim. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 49%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Automobile Manufacturing industry, followed by Beef-Based Agriculture and Woodchip Exports.

People have to sneak out of the country in order to have sex, the recently unemployed can often be seen at the local homeless shelter, airship use has soared while property values beneath their routes have plummeted, and conductors wield diamond-encrusted batons to fit in with their freshly gilded surroundings. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Topikea's national animal is the snake, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the dollar.

Topikea is ranked 1,829th in Lazarus and 61,307th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -13 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and