The Socialist Federal Republic of Altravia is a huge, genial nation, remarkable for its national health service, parental licensing program, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The compassionate, cynical population of 501 million Altravians are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The large, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Pravigrad. The average income tax rate is 75.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Altravian economy, worth 54.3 trillion Altrazas a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is led by the Trout Farming industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Tourism. Average income is an impressive 108,397 Altrazas, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A good deed is rewarded with a thank you note attached to a deportation order, summer science camps are regularly raided by narcotics police, frustrated women are overjoyed at the provision of communal washing machines, and several citizens have complained about scientists abducting their pets for experimentation. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Altravia's national animal is the White Phoenix, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Altravia is ranked 268,396^th in the world and 933^rd in The Communist Bloc for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring -8.83 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.