The Ineffable Existential Abyss of Cognosco is a colossal, genial nation, ruled by The pessimistic ghost of Schopenhauer with a fair hand, and notable for its smutty television, anti-smoking policies, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 6.25 billion Cognoscans 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, corrupt, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Manentia. The average income tax rate is 98.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Cognoscoan economy, worth a remarkable 1,449 trillion Life Chances a year, is quite specialized and mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Tourism, and Beef-Based Agriculture. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an amazing 231,844 Life Chances, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Older citizens lament over the loss of law and order, life is somewhat repetitive, the government regularly hires contractors to construct high rise apartments, and government debts are financed through alchemy. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Cognosco's national animal is the Cognoscan Eagle, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is High-Spirited Schadenfreude.

Cognosco is ranked 3,347^th in the world and 5^th in Philosophers for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 17,619.65 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.