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“DRAGON ENERGY”

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The GENERALLY HONOURABLE NATION of ROM is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by some dude named jeff with an iron fist, and renowned for its compulsory military service, avowedly heterosexual populace, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 24.655 billion Stans 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, moralistic, well-organized government is primarily concerned with Defense, although Law & Order, Spirituality, and Administration are also considered important, while Education and Welfare receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of an abandoned warehouse. The average income tax rate is 97.3%.

The frighteningly efficient ROMian economy, worth a remarkable 9,009 trillion Steaks 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, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, Woodchip Exports, and Gambling. 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 365,436 Steaks, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,089,793 per year while the poor average 95,954, a ratio of 11.4 to 1.

Birds and children's kites are regularly brought down by anti-aircraft fire, government bureaucrats shut down teenage yard-raking businesses for being counter-revolutionary, the government has hired out-of-work fashion designers to design purses for men, and heirs who take too long in the bathroom are declared missing and presumed dead. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force. ROM's national animal is the Dragon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is dragon worshippers.

ROM is ranked 242^nd in the world and 4^th in The North Pacific for Largest Black Market, with 14,581 trillion Standard Monetary Units.