Adaptus

The Grand Federal Kingdom of Adaptus is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Kristopher Kopis with a fair hand, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, state-planned economy, and rampant corporate plagiarism. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 14.639 billion Adaptons are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The tiny, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Education, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Novumcastrum. The average income tax rate is 6.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Adapton economy, worth a remarkable 2,112 trillion Aureuses a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient black market in Information Technology, Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing, and Retail. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 144,307 Aureuses, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The government is sending thousands of citizens overseas to defend a square mile of land, religious organizations are being forced to leave the country or pay income taxes like everybody else, UFO sightings are listed daily in the morning news, and cyber-crime and tin-foil hat sales are both increasing at record rates. Crime is almost non-existent, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Adaptus's national animal is the Falcon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.