The Federal Republic of Bellcon is a colossal, cultured nation, ruled by Jack Roberts with an iron fist, and notable for its ban on automobiles, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 5.152 billion Bellconians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Surrell. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 61.9%.

The frighteningly efficient Bellconian economy, worth 849 trillion Bellconian bells a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, and Retail. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 164,810 Bellconian bells, with the richest citizens earning 7.5 times as much as the poorest.

If there's something strange in your neighborhood you call Brancaland, immigrants are required to salute the flag five times a day, films are funded in accordance with the volume of tears shed when reading the screenplay, and elementary school students are required to master Bach's Chaconne in D before graduation. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bellcon's national animal is the Bellconian Lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Bellconian Orthodoxy.

Bellcon is ranked 7,544^th in the world and 403^rd in Lazarus for Most Cultured, scoring 137 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.