The Himalayan Field Rat Paradise of Gonrati is a massive, socially progressive nation, ruled by Comrade York with a fair hand, and remarkable for its keen interest in outer space, absence of drug laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 2.431 billion Gonratians 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, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of York City. The average income tax rate is 78.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Gonratian economy, worth 209 trillion Gonrati Frajs 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 Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Pizza Delivery, and Tourism. Average income is 86,115 Gonrati Frajs, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Farmers in arid regions are puzzled with government directions to plant rice this year, Gonratian novella fans become unusually flustered when thinking about Comrade York, televisions are often seized to pay for overdue television license fees, and the endangered saltwater humpback Himalayan Field Rat is only seen in captivity programs. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gonrati's national animal is the Himalayan Field Rat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Ratism.

Gonrati is ranked 36,375^th in the world and 1,261^st in the South Pacific for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 5,673.44 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.