The Democratic States of Frastat is a very large, cultured nation, renowned for its compulsory military service, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 128 million Frastatians 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, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 55.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Frastatian economy, worth 5.41 trillion deniers a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, and Cheese Exports. Average income is 42,280 deniers, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Police conduct weekly raids looking for contraband cheeseburgers, would-be emigrants are told "abandon all hope all ye who would exit here", the doctor has cold hands, and nobody knows why the caged tiger sings. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Frastat's national animal is the tiger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Frastat is ranked 164,574^th in the world and 1,026^th in The Communist Bloc for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 59.37 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.