The United Socialist States of Span is a behemoth, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by M Shobacus Maz with a fair hand, and remarkable for its smutty television, hatred of cheese, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 51.391 billion Spanners 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 medium-sized, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Maz. The average income tax rate is 97.1%.

The frighteningly efficient Spanner economy, worth an astonishing 15,928 trillion spannies a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Information Technology. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an amazing 309,948 spannies, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The acceptance of acupuncture and other alternative therapies has needled the scientific community, the government officially wants you to slow down and speak more clearly, elections demand a proportionate response, and confessions don't count if suffixed with "izzle". Crime is totally unknown. Span's national animal is the donkey, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Span is ranked 4^th in the world and 1^st in The North Pacific for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 115,604.86 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.