Spotlight on:

“Where the Candelarias come to smoke”

The Republic of Sargossa is a massive, economically powerful nation, ruled by General Joaquín Delgado with an iron fist, and renowned for its anti-smoking policies. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 2.195 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 large, corrupt, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defence, and Education. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Soluca. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 14%. A powerhouse of a private sector is led by the Gambling industry, followed by Tourism and Arms Manufacturing.

The government has cut taxes in the face of widespread tax evasion, shanty towns are forming in the suburbs of major cities, spies caught in Sargossa are never heard from again, and suppression of pro-democracy protests is a daily occurrence. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Sargossa's national animal is the Great Manta, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the dinara.

Sargossa is ranked 1st in the region and 1,825th in the world for Largest Pizza Delivery Sector.