The Free Land of Phodopus is a large, safe nation, renowned for its museums and concert halls, absence of drug laws, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 158 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 government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 75.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Phodopusian economy, worth 8.27 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 Information Technology, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 52,364 Cricets, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Nine-year-olds are discovering that they can grow gardens in real life too, scientists who publish a non-reproducible result are tarred and feathered, it is illegal to make racist remarks in public, and dubiously qualified East Lebatuckese doctors prescribe ice baths as a treatment for pneumonia. 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 43,207^th in the world and 850^th in The North Pacific for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 2,161.06 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.