Spotlight on:

“That gun your holding, We made it.”

The Grand Principality of Shataristan is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its museums and concert halls. Its compassionate, hard-working, cynical population of 887 million are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Commerce. It meets every day to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Shataristan City. The average income tax rate is 59%. Private enterprise is illegal, but for those in the know there is a slick and highly efficient black market in Book Publishing.

Shoppers have literally had their hands full since plastic bags were banned, rumours have it that a secret police is responsible for the recent spate of missing persons, badminton was recently banned due to 'unacceptable violence' inherent to the game, and senior citizens can usually be found doing heavy manual labour. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Shataristan's national animal is the gazelle, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the Noa.

Shataristan is ranked 10th in the region and 36,192nd in the world for Largest Arms Manufacturing Sector.