The United Socialist States of Tropicon is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Comrade Otto with an iron fist, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, ubiquitous missile silos, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 1.071 billion Tropiconians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ottograd. The average income tax rate is 70.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Tropiconian economy, worth 87.5 trillion Smekels 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 large, well-organized, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Information Technology, and Automobile Manufacturing. 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 81,741 Smekels, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

It is often said that only Comrade Otto could bring down Dàguó, gene-engineered sewerjacks don't smell but they do stink, scenic mountain valleys are flooded with water as damming projects get underway, and 13-year-old internet trolls are treated as a threat on par with terrorists. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Tropicon's national animal is the Eve, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Religion of personality.

Tropicon is ranked 3,080^th in the world and 2^nd in Amestris for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 7,654.21 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.