The Most Serene Republic of Balto is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its irreverence towards religion, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 668 million Yognaughts are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Seaportattleland. The average income tax rate is 70.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Baltoan economy, worth 39.5 trillion Jaffa Cakes a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving, Information Technology, and Cheese Exports. Average income is 59,067 Jaffa Cakes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Children's TV shows are having a gay old time, the nation grinds to a halt for afternoon tea, male cubicle workers stand up every time a woman enters the room, and every politician claims to be at least 1% Native Baltoan. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Balto's national animal is the Crab People, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Balto is ranked 20,669^th in the world and 903^rd in The North Pacific for Highest Food Quality, scoring 114.93 on the Meeshlin-Starr Index.