The Commonwealth of Croblade is a mammoth, cultured nation, ruled by President Evangeline Martin with a fair hand, and notable for its national health service, soft-spoken computers, and absence of drug laws. The democratic population of 5.767 billion Crobladians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Greenridge. The average income tax rate is 66.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Crobladian economy, worth 725 trillion Crobladian Sorloes 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 black market in Information Technology, Tourism, Retail, 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 impressive 125,877 Crobladian Sorloes, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The minority inevitably have their addenda vetoed, children prefer to begin their day with push-ups rather than breakfast, a faint smell of body odour can be detected at several miles' distance from the National Science Park, and billions of Crobladian Sorloes are being poured into a space program. Crime is totally unknown. Croblade's national animal is the Panther, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Crobladian Artorianity.

Croblade is ranked 54,086^th in the world and 374^th in the Plains of Perdition for Nicest Citizens, with 16.66 average smiles per day.