The Icono de Fracaso of Tungstan is a massive, safe nation, ruled by Paige with an even hand, and remarkable for its ubiquitous missile silos, daily referendums, and parental licensing program. The hard-nosed population of 2.004 billion Paiges are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nowhere. The average income tax rate is 78.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Paige economy, worth 260 trillion rats 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 large, well-organized, quite specialized black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, 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 an impressive 129,836 rats, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Fair-weather fans talk during plays while die-hard theatre enthusiasts stay at home, authorities are looking for a stool pigeon to rat out who is stealing food from pigeon toilets, children dream of becoming physicians and physicists, and reflection is vital for badly behaved politicians. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Tungstan's national animal is the rat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Paige.

Tungstan is ranked 129,300^th in the world and 3,134^th in the Rejected Realms for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 1,252.94 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.