The Federation of Zko is a large, cultured nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service, state-planned economy, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 171 million Zkoans love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The large, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 63.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Zkoan economy, worth 6.43 trillion ⋖$s a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Trout Farming. Average income is 37,604 ⋖$s, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Lottery winners spend most of their money on security, Zkoan scientists are mixing chewing tobacco with bacon flavouring in an attempt to craft the perfect male snack, psychiatrists bizarrely accompany Leader to meetings with foreign heads of state, and refugees from other nations are flocking to Zko's border. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zko's national animal is the Zkoan Ape, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Zko is ranked 302,374^th in the world and 164^th in The Order of the Grey Wardens for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 13,838.54 Standard Monetary Units.