Shaster

If the Principality of Shaster had a national motto, it would probably be "Hold my beer!" The nation as a whole seems to thrive on finding new approaches to any given problem, regardless of whether or not the problem is of any importance or, indeed, has already been solved. I'm thinking particularly of Project SpaceGills, a national scientific undertaking that aimed to genetically modify everyone on Taurus Research Station "in order that they might breathe the purity of space." This caused something of an international uproar when Phase 3 of testing involved opening the airlock and letting all the air out so they could be sure the gills were working; tensions increased further when it emerged that no one on the station had ever consented to the genetic modification. Sadly, this led to the expulsion of all Shastrian personnel from the station, prematurely ending their promising space persuasion project.

Shastrian culture celebrates new and cutting-edge technology, despite the fact that so little of what they produce is actually workable. Their culture's understanding of itself is that they are more forward-thinking than other nations, a claim they ground by pointing to enormous national research and development costs. For memetosociologists like my esteemed colleague M. Hon. Milton, however, there is an interesting layer to these claims, as the average citizen has little to do with the national obsession. At the end of the day, if your toaster doesn't actually work, you'll import a working one from elsewhere.

Thus, Shastrian patriotism is subtly intertwined with an understanding that some person, somewhere else in the country, is actually doing the important work. The average citizen believes the National University of Shaster is the epicenter of new and exciting technologies, while staff at the University tend to believe the exciting stuff is happening in a different department. Moreover, an analysis by the Stratsky Foundation for Economics and Insurrection found that the research and development money is split between two streams: one that funds research deals with more advanced countries (e.g. the Contagious Republic of Paul Vigotski), and one that inexplicably vanishes somewhere in the university.

On the political side of things, Shaster enjoys an extremely competent diplomatic staff, which has secured them many alliances and an enviable position in global politics despite a comparative lack of technological or military power to back them up. Shastrian diplomats were instrumental in resolving the Goats on Boats Affair that threatened to plunge the world into conflict. It is perhaps for this reason that they are able to thrive as a country despite their neighbors being somewhat unruly. But even more impressive is their ability, as a coastal nation, to maintain tight diplomatic ties with the Panark Fleet without harming their relationship with the Hegemony of Whales.