The United Socialist States of Zavarinsk is a huge, safe nation, notable for its fear of technology, punitive income tax rates, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 398 million Zavarinskians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 69.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Zavarinskian economy, worth 9.45 trillion rubles 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, quite specialized black market in Trout Farming, Arms Manufacturing, and Uranium Mining. 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 23,741 rubles, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Rice shortages have risen after paddy fields were drained to combat malaria, foreigners are treated with great suspicion, the youth vote is only counted when kindergarten teachers ask who drew the best picture, and a recent "genocide prevention" campaign includes murdering children based on their DNA. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zavarinsk's national animal is the tiger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Zavarinsk is ranked 241,994^th in the world and 5,755^th in The North Pacific for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 619.11 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.