Location: Wysteria

Overview • People • Government • Economy • Trend • Analysis

The Unaussprechlichen Kulte of Zyklon B is a gargantuan, devout nation, ruled by Cult Leader with an iron fist, and remarkable for its absence of drug laws. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 19.068 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.

There is no government in the normal sense of the word; however, a small group of community-minded, corrupt, pro-business individuals is effectively ruled by the Department of Defence, with areas such as the Environment and Social Welfare receiving almost no funds by comparison. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Camp 1. Income tax is unheard of. A powerhouse of a private sector is dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry.

The nation is reliant on the principle of mutually assured destruction to maintain its security, young people crowd pizza parlors praying to 'The Supreme Pizza, His Immaculate Munchiness', a large percentage of the poor live from cradle to grave in subterranean wage slavery, and the public health bureaucracy is wrapped in miles of red tape. Crime is crippling, probably because of the country's utter lack of prisons. Zyklon B's national animal is the vulture, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, its national religion is Unspeakable, and its currency is the gas-mask.

Zyklon B is ranked 3rd in Wysteria and 4th in the world for Shortest Average Lifespan, scoring 154 on the Bus Surprisal Index.

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NationStates by Max Barry, author of and