The State of Karstery is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by the Governor with a fair hand, and notable for its national health service, irreverence towards religion, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 34.554 billion Karsteryians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The relatively small government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Capital Heights. The average income tax rate is 9.7%.

The Karsteryian economy, worth a remarkable 1,235 trillion betales a year, is quite specialized and led by the Cheese Exports industry, with major contributions from Automobile Manufacturing, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 35,762 betales, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.7 times as much as the poorest.

The government is reining in public spending, Karstery has designated Capital Heights as its capital city, the Governor has just been declared ruler of Karstery in an international press conference, and a major religion has been named as Karstery's national religion. Crime, especially youth-related, is relatively low, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Karstery's national animal is the deer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Karstery is ranked 99,231^st in the world and 227^th in State for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 3,369.63 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.