Location: The East Pacific

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Federation of Vestmark is a huge, economically powerful nation, notable for its irreverence towards religion. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 953 million 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 government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and the Environment. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Urbem. The average income tax rate is 65%, and even higher for the wealthy. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Tourism industry, followed by Basket Weaving and Information Technology.

New safety regulations require all cars manufactured in Vestmark to be bombproof, the government seizes all major gold finds, main battle tanks stalk the woods of Vestmark in search of Kaulis, and thousands of former welfare recipients are in a revolutionary uproar as the rest of society is enjoying a hefty tax break. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is moderate, probably because of the country's utter lack of prisons. Vestmark's national animal is the Kauli, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the Croevne.

Vestmark is ranked 4,026th in The East Pacific and 93,272nd in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring -24 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and