The Allied States of Santu Surgo is a colossal, safe nation, ruled by Hyams Greves with an even hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 8.709 billion Surgoans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Administration, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nolia Lis. The average income tax rate is 92.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Santu Surgoan economy, worth 698 trillion Alises a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 80,219 Alises, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Abortions are routinely performed in the nation's hospitals, radio shows frequently feature people denouncing religion, droves of former desperados are applying to join the border police, and hundreds of sailors ride the good ship Hyams Greves day after day. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Santu Surgo's national animal is the Red Panda, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Santu Surgo is ranked 63,008^th in the world and 104^th in The Region That Has No Big Banks for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 3,087.87 on the Gilded Widget Scale.