The Allied States of Hogston is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by Tom Gollock with a fair hand, and remarkable for its burgeoning Falcon population. The compassionate, democratic population of 5.715 billion Hogstonians hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The relatively small, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Lohnbork. The average income tax rate is 18.4%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Hogstonian economy, worth 249 trillion Hogstones a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Beef-Based Agriculture industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Furniture Restoration, and Basket Weaving. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 43,585 Hogstones, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.8 times as much as the poorest.

Newspapers are running a front-page picture of Tom Gollock holding a crowbar and standing over a bloodied stockbroker, Hogstonian tourists are encouraged to hand out spare condoms to locals while on vacation, foreign leaders are advising that Tom Gollock's letters must have gotten lost in the mail, and police are trained in using their steel-capped boots as a tool of law enforcement. Crime is almost non-existent. Hogston's national animal is the Falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Folosofosm.

Hogston is ranked 32,655^th in the world and 3^rd in Alliance of Sovereign Nations for Most Compassionate Citizens, scoring 50.74 on the Kitten Softness Rating.