The People's Republic of West Shricalland is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its state-planned economy, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate population of 230 million West Shricallandians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 79.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant West Shricallandian economy, worth 4.74 trillion Rationmarks 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 led by the Beef-Based Agriculture industry, with major contributions from Basket Weaving, Cheese Exports, and Furniture Restoration. Average income is 20,601 Rationmarks, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The Ministry of Health has reported a sharp increase in the incidence of delayed menopause, passionate nomination battles are often as intense as general elections, there's a politician called Male Infant Schultz, and couples are discouraged from marrying until they can rank their partner on a scale of one to ten. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. West Shricalland's national animal is the Cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

West Shricalland is ranked 140,995^th in the world and 45^th in The Archipelago States for Highest Food Quality, scoring 16.54 on the Meeshlin-Starr Index.