The Republic of Zapokin is a very large, cultured nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, public floggings, and prohibition of alcohol. The hard-nosed population of 220 million Zapokinians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. The average income tax rate is 40.2%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Zapokinian economy, worth 14.4 trillion Toastarian Bolivars a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Basket Weaving, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 65,297 Toastarian Bolivars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Voters are one of the nation's top imports, foreign leaders are advising that Leader's letters must have gotten lost in the mail, beating enemies to death with a baseball bat is legal if done within nine innings, and sex offenders find themselves cut off from the ability to repeat their crimes. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zapokin's national animal is the Harp Seal, which can occasionally be seen avoiding garbage in the nation's murky oceans.

Zapokin is ranked 147,968^th in the world and 32^nd in The Toastic Assembly for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 1,573.22 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.