The Socialist Union of Heares is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Dominic Fanemal with an even hand, and renowned for its keen interest in outer space, sprawling nuclear power plants, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, cynical population of 4.794 billion Hearesians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Rashdenten. The average income tax rate is 87.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Hearesian economy, worth 556 trillion Dences a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Average income is an impressive 116,053 Dences, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Rashdenten spends billions upgrading public transport, counselors have to sign pledges supporting gay rights before they can speak to any patients, the government spends more on chasing distant comets than on basic infrastructure, and the people are famous throughout the region for their perfect yellow teeth. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Heares's national animal is the Shrew, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Heares is ranked 14,092^nd in the world and 794^th in Lazarus for Most Cultured, scoring 104 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.