The Empire of Ataponian is a huge, safe nation, renowned for its otherworldly petting zoo, punitive income tax rates, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, devout population of 299 million Ataponianians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 56.9%.

The strong Ataponianian economy, worth 17.8 trillion Ataponian Kostromes a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Retail, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 59,469 Ataponian Kostromes, with the richest citizens earning 6.5 times as much as the poorest.

Cops in Ataponian City spend much of their time napping on a park bench next to Embassy Row, 4-year-olds are often found reminiscing about the 'good old days', citizens try to pass off bottlecaps they found in their backyards as historical artifacts, and the criminal underworld is dominated by cupcake smugglers and back-alley doughnut shops. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ataponian's national animal is the Lion, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Ataponian is ranked 74,354^th in the world and 34^th in Iris for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 104.25 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.