The Dissociative State of Hardscrabble is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Dr Norvak Dolokai with a fair hand, and remarkable for its unlimited-speed roads, absence of drug laws, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic, cheerful population of 10.18 billion Hardscrabblers hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The large, liberal, outspoken government prioritizes Education, with Environment, Administration, and Healthcare also on the agenda, while Defense and Spirituality are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Squash Flats. The average income tax rate is 98.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Hardscrabblean economy, worth a remarkable 2,033 trillion florgons a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 199,791 florgons, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Exorbitant spending on icebreakers breaks the ice at every budget meeting, bins outnumber trees in city parks, flu research is commonly shut down for fear of creating a superbug, and stone wrist watches that weigh 20lb are the latest trend. Crime is totally unknown. Hardscrabble's national animal is the wood shrew, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is The Church Of Charismatic Numismatists.

Hardscrabble is ranked 3,261^st in the world and 128^th in The North Pacific for Most Advanced Public Transport, scoring 5,415.85 on the Societal Mobility Rating.