The Elysian Fields of ZOO288 is a colossal, orderly nation, ruled by Fox skull family with an iron fist, and renowned for its enslaved workforce, keen interest in outer space, and pith helmet sales. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 5.5 billion Foxes 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 prioritizes Defense, with Education, Environment, and Industry also on the agenda, while Spirituality and Welfare are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Foxford. The average income tax rate is 75.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient ZOO288ian economy, worth a remarkable 1,763 trillion Black Fox coins 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, fairly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Book Publishing. 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 320,721 Black Fox coins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.2 times as much as the poorest.

The new ZOO288ian-made OS is buggier and more inconvenient than a horse-drawn carriage, adverts proclaim it has to be healthy if the Mornay uses hand-grated Gallopavian Gruyère, people believe that if you teach a man to fish he won't buy fish from you any more, and dynamite sales and concert audiences are booming. Crime is totally unknown. ZOO288's national animal is the Fennec Fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is teumessian fox.

ZOO288 is ranked 831^st in the world and 4^th in New Western Empire for Most Patriotic, with 81.53 Flags saluted per person per day.