Location: Balder

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Blorghtopia of Varp is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Dude with a fair hand, and remarkable for its keen interest in outer space. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 1.96 billion hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it devotes most of its attentions to Education, with areas such as Religion & Spirituality and Law & Order receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Middlestone. The average income tax rate is 45%, but much higher for the wealthy. 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.

A government program is underway to revitalize Varp's beaches, the nationalized auto industry is adept at making durable little cars nobody wants to drive, corporations are forbidden from employing outside the nation, and motorists must pay to enter inner-cities during peak hours. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is a major problem, and the police force struggles against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Varp's national animal is the Venus Flytrap, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the fire ant.

Varp is ranked 2,336th in Balder and 90,403rd in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -22 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and