The Goated Zone of Workuta Thob is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Colossal Craig with a fair hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, daily referendums, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 1.675 billion Thobians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Thobopolis. The average income tax rate is 81.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Workuta Thobian economy, worth 227 trillion gollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Trout Farming, Book Publishing, and Basket Weaving. Average income is an impressive 135,701 gollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The mob vote is a crucial electoral demographic, scientists earn more grant money for reproducing old experiments than trying anything new, diplomatic cables about Colossal Craig have suddenly been very flattering, and kindergartners are taught to loathe poor trigger discipline and citrus. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Workuta Thob's national animal is the goat, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Workuta Thob is ranked 54,073^rd in the world and 52^nd in Horizon for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 171.84 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.