The Republic of Taustrian Desert is a tiny, genial nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The cynical, devout population of 16 million Taustrian Desertians are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The large, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Spirituality, and Education. The average income tax rate is 55.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The weak Taustrian Desertian economy, worth 460 billion florins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Cheese Exports, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is 28,767 florins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Taustrian Desert's national animal is the turtle.

Taustrian Desert is ranked 319,173^rd in the world and 16,830^th in Osiris for Largest Populations, with 16.0 million capita.