The Retired Delegate of Alsted is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by a federal presidency with an even hand, and remarkable for its strictly enforced bedtime, hatred of cheese, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 40.679 billion Alstedians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked morass — juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of San Junipero. The average income tax rate is 84.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Alstedian economy, worth a remarkable 2,664 trillion Alstedian Dollars a year, is extremely specialized and solely comprised of the Book Publishing industry. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 65,499 Alstedian Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

New safety regulations require all cars manufactured in Alsted to be bombproof, employers may fire workers without giving any reason, planespotters are emigrating in droves, and corporate lobbying has been outlawed. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Alsted's national animal is the Juniperon Otter, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Alsted is ranked 55,540^th in the world and 449^th in Europe for Most Developed, scoring 76.13 on the Human Development Index.