The Grand Empire of Kranov is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by The Grand Minister with an iron fist, and notable for its pith helmet sales, compulsory military service, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 1.952 billion Kranovians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government prioritizes Defense, with Law & Order, Administration, and Education also on the agenda, while Welfare and International Aid receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Kranovia. The average income tax rate is 75.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Kranovian economy, worth 300 trillion Kranovs 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, Uranium Mining, Woodchip Exports, and Automobile Manufacturing. 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 impressive 154,006 Kranovs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Citizens who fail to follow the official national religion are executed, the military will start wars with other nations on a lark, asking 'a penny for your thoughts?' draws law enforcement response, and the police have been swamped with requests to stay up past bedtime. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Kranov's national animal is the Eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is State Socalism.

Kranov is ranked 291,291^st in the world and 11,207^th in Lazarus for Most Cultured, scoring 32 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.