The Ghost of Ostehaar is a titanic, genial nation, ruled by Osterman with a fair hand, and renowned for its frequent executions, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 23.486 billion Osters are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ostertown. The average income tax rate is 75.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Oster economy, worth a remarkable 1,790 trillion Coins a year, is highly specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing, and Cheese Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 76,238 Coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Members of Parliament operate under a PAYE scheme, the welfare administration's new sweeping authority has forced the poor and needy to shop from pre-approved grocery lists, factories grind to a halt every time there is an election, and the government has cut taxes in the face of widespread tax evasion. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ostehaar's national animal is the Beast, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ostehaar is ranked 11,604^th in the world and 31^st in The Western Isles for Nicest Citizens, with 28.74 average smiles per day.