The Landsraad Member Nation of Shotagon is a gargantuan, safe nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, anti-smoking policies, and hatred of cheese. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 42.999 billion Shotagonians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked morass — juggles the competing demands of Environment, Education, and Public Transport. The average income tax rate is 85.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Shotagonian economy, worth a remarkable 3,084 trillion GPS a year, is extremely specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Gambling. Average income is 71,740 GPS, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

The tenet of free speech is held dear, citizens are regularly found digging for treasure in their gardens, anti-government web sites are springing up, and unemployment rates have skyrocketed as businesses abandon the country in search of cheap labour. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Shotagon's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Shotagon is ranked 62,680^th in the world and 3,773^rd in Lazarus for Lowest Crime Rates, with 71.26 law-abiding acts per hour.