The Chaste Cathar State of Vegetarian Basques is a titanic, efficient nation, ruled by Domingo Lardizabal with an iron fist, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, free-roaming dinosaurs, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 12.655 billion Basques are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Industry, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bilbao. The average income tax rate is 88.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Basque economy, worth a remarkable 2,280 trillion euskoes a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Retail. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 180,232 euskoes, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.3 times as much as the poorest.

Domingo Lardizabal steals from the rich and gives to the needy, printing ink yields Catharism's biggest return on investment, prospective foster parents like to shop around, and citizen radio operators agree that the certification test can open up a world of hertz. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Vegetarian Basques's national animal is the booted eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is Catharism.

Vegetarian Basques is ranked 8,540^th in the world and 1^st in Puppet Containment Facility for Largest Black Market, with 702 trillion Standard Monetary Units.