The Free Land of Catalis is a colossal, safe nation, ruled by Phoenix Summer with an iron fist, and remarkable for its digital currency, soft-spoken computers, and complete lack of prisons. The compassionate, cynical population of 8.534 billion Catalisians are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government.

The enormous, liberal government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Crescent City. The average income tax rate is 93.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Catalisian economy, worth 984 trillion Bells a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 115,324 Bells, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The latest electric jet fighter has almost enough battery charge to reach cruising altitude -- provided you don't use the radar, carbon-footprint restrictions are making businesses walk, science centers and state of the art laboratories are ubiquitous, and armed war-criminals gain asylum if deemed 'fabulous' enough. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Catalis's national animal is the TurtleDuck, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Catalis is ranked 275,881^st in the world and 5,734^th in The North Pacific for Most Primitive, scoring -291.18 on the Scary Big Number Scale.