The Glorious Dictatorial Republic of Andersonia (GDR) was the result of what happens when 1984, SimCity Societies, and online gaming meet. Extant from November 2008 to November 2010, the GDR was a totalitarian state based solely on the online game Nations.

Beginning as an ordinary republic in early November 2008 (no records survive to give a finer date than somewhere between 4 and 20 November), Andersonia had turned into a totalitarian state inspired by the film 1984 and the game SimCity Societies (where the player could create an authoritarian state). 1 December 2008 saw the creation of the Totalitarian Union of Nations, a short-lived organisation that aimed to unite authoritarian states from across the Nations online game world. Curiously, despite the anti-Communist stance of its successor, the GDR made no distinction between communist, fascist, or non-aligned authoritarian states, but did distinguish between authoritarian and democratic nations. These days, Siroccans will be quick to point out that even though the GDR was Sirocco's predecessor, the links stop there.

The GDR eventually grew to become the largest country in the Nations world, with a population of between nine and thirteen billion. This was, however, as far as it would go. Through the second half of 2010 it slid into inactivity and decline. In August 2010 the decline was acknowledged, and it was decided to terminate the GDR and begin over again with a new nation. This nation was initially known as the Federal Commonwealth of Andersonia, until the name Sirocco was chosen instead in October. The GDR's Nations profile was revisited one final time on 2 November 2010 to finalise affairs, and shortly after 11am on 3 November 2010, the GDR was dissolved. All that remained was the 24-hour wait until the creation of Sirocco the following morning.

Out in Space

At its peak, between nine and thirteen billion 'citizens' lived in Andersonia. Where could one nation find room for such an enormous crush of people? The answer was a 'geofictional' planet named Actros. Segmented into more than fifty countries and much, much larger than Earth, Actros became the location of most of Andersonia's goings-on during 2009 and 2010 (2889 and 2890 on Actros). Actros gave rise to the 'romanticised' GDR that was the successor to a nearly 2000-year-old kingdom that had erupted in revolution in the year 2866. By 2868, the Totalitarian Party had taken control, and continued to lead until either 2890 or 2950, depending which story one prefers.