The United Socialist States of Franat is a tiny, socially progressive nation, remarkable for its irreverence towards religion, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The quiet, industrious population of 14 million Franatians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Law & Order, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 60.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The fragile Franatian economy, worth 340 billion lire a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is mostly made up of the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Tourism, and Furniture Restoration. Average income is 24,332 lire, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Franat's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Franat is ranked 239,594^th in the world and 137^th in Britannia for Most Cultured, scoring 64 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.