The Decaying Reality of The Toll is a mammoth, safe nation, ruled by The Tone with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, national health service, and keen interest in outer space. The hard-nosed, humorless, devout population of 5.525 billion Tollians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The enormous, moralistic, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Administration, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sector 17. The average income tax rate is 98.6%.

The frighteningly efficient Tollian economy, worth a remarkable 1,014 trillion Notes 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 dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Tourism, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is an impressive 183,647 Notes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The Tone's preferred candidate has lost second place by three votes, hundreds of subterranean tunnels are being built as part of "Project Morlock", students who refuse to pray are expelled from school, and organ donation is compulsory. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Toll's national animal is the Death Hunter, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Christianity.

The Toll is ranked 14,566^th in the world and 1^st in Tomb of The Toll for Highest Average Incomes, with 183,647.25 Standard Monetary Units.