The Commonwealth of Gresonia is a massive, genial nation, notable for its absence of drug laws, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 1.23 billion Gresonians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Tarasac. The average income tax rate is 72.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Gresonian economy, worth 61.7 trillion Juronas a year, is quite specialized and mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 50,196 Juronas, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Cutting-edge missile systems are being retrofitted to twin-prop air force biplanes, students do more community service than homework, home renovation projects take decades to complete, and an aboriginal talking stick is used for leaders' debates at election time. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gresonia's national animal is the Heron, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Gresonia is ranked 15,113^th in the world and 440^th in the South Pacific for Nicest Citizens, with 25.46 average smiles per day.