The Grand Duchy of Cantonisierre is a tiny, socially progressive nation, remarkable for its museums and concert halls, public floggings, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 16 million Cantonisierreans 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 relatively small government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 13.1%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Cantonisierrean economy, worth 1.05 trillion Ferancs a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving, Trout Farming, and Book Publishing. Average income is 65,367 Ferancs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.6 times as much as the poorest.

A traveller who once stubbed a toe on an Air Brancaland flight has been offered asylum, group hugs break out during floor votes, professional athletes juggle part-time jobs to avoid bankruptcy, and hundreds of thousands of convicts work as slaves in Cantonisierre's many privately-owned prisons. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Cantonisierre's national animal is the Lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Cantonisierre is ranked 231,025^th in the world and 2,846^th in the South Pacific for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring 112.92 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.