The Democratic States of Bichedder is a huge, cultured nation, remarkable for its daily referendums, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 469 million Bichedderians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bichedder City. The average income tax rate is 73.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Bichedderian economy, worth 24.2 trillion Bichedders a year, is quite specialized and dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 51,565 Bichedders, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The opposition leader's credibility has been undermined by constant attention drawn to a dodgy toupee, anti-government political posters adorn every building like wallpaper, all the playground's a stage for Bichedderian schoolchildren, and excited shovel-bearing geeks wander the countryside. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bichedder's national animal is the Doggies, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Bichedder is ranked 151,747^th in the world and 4,973^rd in the South Pacific for Largest Mining Sector, scoring 492.77 on the Blue Sky Asbestos Index.