The Allied States of Hogston is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by Tom Gollock with a fair hand, and remarkable for its keen interest in outer space and absence of drug laws. The compassionate, democratic population of 5.732 billion Hogstonians hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Lohnbork. The average income tax rate is 24.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The large but inefficient Hogstonian economy, worth 226 trillion Hogstones a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Furniture Restoration, Basket Weaving, and Beef-Based Agriculture. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 39,528 Hogstones, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.4 times as much as the poorest.

Space shuttles regularly launch rubbish into space, meat prices are soaring as the farming industry struggle under government-imposed restrictions, urban entrepreneurs are busy introducing cockroaches into restaurant kitchens, and tea and biscuits have replaced waterboarding and sleep deprivation as the primary tools of interrogation. Crime is almost non-existent. Hogston's national animal is the Falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Folosofosm.

Hogston is ranked 201,330^th in the world and 5^th in Alliance of Sovereign Nations for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 337.99 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.