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“Hedgehogs are people too”

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The Armed Republic of Ostrogothaland is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by Tage Danielsson with an iron fist, and renowned for its avant-garde cinema, infamous sell-swords, and complete lack of prisons. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 9.005 billion Ostrogoths are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The large, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Linköping. The average income tax rate is 91.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Ostrogothalandian economy, worth a remarkable 1,879 trillion Ostras 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 an enormous, deeply entrenched black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Tourism, and Book Publishing. 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 amazing 208,768 Ostras, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Court verdicts are predictable to within a hundredth of a percentage point, medical staff can legally quiet people who ask for a second helping of Salisbury steak, troops are either deafened by gunfire or a hysterical voice screaming the Party manifesto, and binoculars sales are at an all-time high. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ostrogothaland's national animal is the Hedgehog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Mosebacke Monarki.

Ostrogothaland is ranked 2,470^th in the world and 74^th in the Rejected Realms for Most Advanced Defense Forces, scoring 19,812.53 on the Total War Preparedness Rating.