The Free Land of Highsteppe is a large, safe nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, absence of drug laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The democratic, devout population of 69 million Highsteppeans are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The large, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 47.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Highsteppean economy, worth 1.76 trillion Hillians 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 a slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Pizza Delivery, Retail, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. 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 25,455 Hillians, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

TV shows must meet strict ethnicity quotas, organ donation is compulsory, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, and constipated-looking politicians are uptight about potty mouths. Crime is totally unknown. Highsteppe's national animal is the Lionish Dragon.

Highsteppe is ranked 257,705^th in the world and 4,503^rd in The East Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring -37.42 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.