The Federal Republic of Mangsten is a small, genial nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service and irreverence towards religion. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic population of 26 million Mangstenians hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The relatively small, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 9.7%.

The Mangstenian economy, worth 1.69 trillion stens a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, and Automobile Manufacturing. Average income is 64,994 stens, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.7 times as much as the poorest.

Cold medicines curiously become cheaper when government officials sneeze, college students make ends meet by selling their kidneys, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, and voting is compulsory. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Mangsten's national animal is the Platypus, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Mangsten is ranked 162,568^th in the world and 473^rd in Horizon for Lowest Crime Rates, with 60.87 law-abiding acts per hour.