The Free Land of Phodopus is a large, safe nation, notable for its state-planned economy, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 124 million Phodosians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 75.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Phodopusian economy, worth 4.85 trillion Cricets 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 Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Information Technology, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 39,133 Cricets, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Art is not complete without a touch of alizarin blood and titanium sweat, country folk are sent to obligatory boarding schools to learn how to be civilized, workers of "fairweather faith" claim six months of paid leave for holy days per year, and signs saying "No Poor People or Weirdoes" are common outside shops and cafés. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Phodopus's national animal is the Prairie Vole, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Phodopus is ranked 217,511^th in the world and 3,370^th in The North Pacific for Fattest Citizens, with 8.86 Obesity Rate.