The Federation of Polterland is a huge, safe nation, notable for its state-planned economy, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 483 million Polters are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Collarstone. The average income tax rate is 58.6%.

The sizeable but inefficient Polter economy, worth 19.9 trillion pents a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, fairly diversified black market in Beef-Based Agriculture, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Automobile Manufacturing, and Furniture Restoration. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 41,251 pents, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.6 times as much as the poorest.

Troops are either deafened by gunfire or a hysterical voice screaming the Party manifesto, the love has gone in Polterland, the sound of office water cooler chatter has been replaced by the whirring of computer cooling fans, and the "swords to plowshares" policy has created a generation of farmers that can kill a yak from 200 yards away. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Polterland's national animal is the Arctic Wolf.

Polterland is ranked 240,796^th in the world and 1,227^th in 10000 Islands for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring -6.72 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.