The Federal Republic of Basilei is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Helmut Ernst with a fair hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, ban on automobiles, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 2.261 billion Basileians 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 Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Basileia. The average income tax rate is 94.9%.

The frighteningly efficient Basileian economy, worth 270 trillion Basileian Kroner 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 led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 119,500 Basileian Kroner, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Party-lovers often change religions just for the weekend, late night talk show hosts are having a field day over Helmut Ernst's questionably sane new coalition partners, anything is permissible when wearing latex gloves, and the nation grinds to a halt on the anniversary of every marginally noteworthy event. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Basilei's national animal is the Ibices, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Basilei is ranked 9,954^th in the world and 261^st in The Communist Bloc for Most Beautiful Environments, with 1,592.42 pounds of wildlife per square mile.