The Prelature Papacy of Erasticanius is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Prelature Pope Dietrich I with an even hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, sprawling nuclear power plants, and absence of drug laws. The compassionate, cheerful, devout population of 26.397 billion Erasticans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Hoodoo Falls. The average income tax rate is 96.8%.

The frighteningly efficient Erasticaniusian economy, worth a remarkable 3,985 trillion Euros a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 150,966 Euros, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Government negotiators never forget to say "pretty please" when begging for custody of its criminals, the recycled air in planes is nauseating, elderly tribespeople die in bed surrounded by loved ones and linguists, and representatives soak in mineral pools at the new capitol building day spa. Crime is totally unknown. Erasticanius's national animal is the Giant Squid, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans, and its national religion is Virtual Roman Catholicism.

Erasticanius is ranked 2,861^st in the world and 1^st in Vatican II for Largest Welfare Programs, scoring 8,050.47 on the Safety Net Mesh Density Rating.