The Rational Republic of Sanden is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Edmund Muskie with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, keen interest in outer space, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 19.162 billion Sandenians 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 government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, outspoken morass — juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Notlock City. The average income tax rate is 83.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Sandenian economy, worth a remarkable 1,376 trillion Shards a year, is highly specialized and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Pizza Delivery. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 71,833 Shards, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Major cities shut down as their local sports team takes to the field every day, UFO sightings are listed daily in the morning news, loans are available for students from poor families, and all streets are privately owned toll roads. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Sanden's national animal is the Peregrine Falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Rationalism.

Sanden is ranked 17,391^st in the world and 435^th in the South Pacific for Most Rebellious Youth, scoring 2 on the Stark-Dean Displacement Index.