The Third Republic of DutchFormosa is a mammoth, cultured nation, ruled by President Nicolaus Schwartz with a fair hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, complete lack of prisons, and keen interest in outer space. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 7.233 billion Formosans 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 government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Zeelandia. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Formosan economy, worth a remarkable 1,347 trillion Guilders a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 186,309 Guilders, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Knitters are arrested for carrying needles in their bags, sleep-deprived officials are known to collapse after late night revision for their examinations, lending money has become a major liability, and the only thing slower than the economy is the exchange where it's managed. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. DutchFormosa's national animal is the Sika deer, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Dutch Reformed Church.

DutchFormosa is ranked 3,548^th in the world and 1^st in Timoria for Most Cultured, scoring 193 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.