The Powerhouse State of Fdryden is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Carla Higgins with an even hand, and renowned for its pith helmet sales, keen interest in outer space, and unlimited-speed roads. The compassionate, cheerful population of 12.811 billion Fdrydenians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The relatively small, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Burford. The average income tax rate is 95.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Fdrydenian economy, worth a remarkable 6,714 trillion Cactis 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 black market in Information Technology, Tourism, Book Publishing, and Retail. 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 a breathtaking 524,112 Cactis, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

All weapon research has been banned, funny-looking kids are stood at the front of the classroom for everybody to point and laugh at, immigrants who carry knives on them are presumed to be chefs, and Maxtopian villagers starve by the time Fdrydenian officials even file the appropriate paperwork needed to help them. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Fdryden's national animal is the Walleye, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Fdryden is ranked 293,511^th in the world and 10^th in Union of Democrats for Lowest Crime Rates, with 3.59 law-abiding acts per hour.