The Protectoral Zone of Autonomous Trans-Antarctica is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by High Senate with an iron fist, and remarkable for its otherworldly petting zoo, pith helmet sales, and public floggings. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 5.525 billion Antarcticans are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government is primarily concerned with Education, with Industry, Administration, and Defense also on the agenda, while Spirituality and International Aid receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Basisstadt. The average income tax rate is 95.9%.

The frighteningly efficient Antarctican economy, worth a remarkable 2,288 trillion IDCS 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, broadly diversified black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Woodchip Exports. 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 414,138 IDCS, with the richest citizens earning 5.8 times as much as the poorest.

Public incontinence is a growing problem amongst the nation's women, old folks reminisce about the last time someone was acquitted of a crime, it's usual for grandparents to stay in the family home with their descendants but younger children are often frightened of them, and chess hooliganism is on the rise after the banning of organised sports. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Autonomous Trans-Antarctica's national animal is the Orca, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways, and its national religion is Atheism.

Autonomous Trans-Antarctica is ranked 36,945^th in the world and 1,288^th in The North Pacific for Lowest Crime Rates, with 79.04 law-abiding acts per hour.