The Free Socialist Republic of Ursida is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by Alexei Kamchatka with an iron fist, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, multi-spousal wedding ceremonies, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 2.834 billion Ursidans 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 medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Volksgrad. The average income tax rate is 48.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Ursidan economy, worth 275 trillion Ursidan Rubles 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, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Woodchip Exports. 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 97,120 Ursidan Rubles, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Environmentalists are advocating slash-and-burn in the nation's forests, serial killers are the country's biggest import, criminals lock themselves in their mums' basements to avoid prison, and mountain rescue missions can end with more people lost than found. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ursida's national animal is the brown bear, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Ursidan Orthodoxy.

Ursida is ranked 64,716^th in the world and 33^rd in The Communist Bloc for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 50,502.55 Standard Monetary Units.