The Empire of Trastal is a colossal, orderly nation, ruled by Frederik Kare with an iron fist, and remarkable for its frequent executions, pith helmet sales, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 4.018 billion Trastilians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Valkteria. The average income tax rate is 34.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Trastilian economy, worth 387 trillion Shylliþs a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with significant contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Arms Manufacturing, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Black market activity is frequent. Average income is 96,327 Shylliþs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.8 times as much as the poorest.

Merry Birthday is a popular protest song despite the risk of fines and royalty dues, the nation is famous for having one of the world's largest Otter hunting institutions, people say that cubists are rubbish because they can't draw faces, and basket-weaving is the nation's latest fad. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Trastal's national animal is the Otter, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Trastal is ranked 314,151^st in the world and 14,574^th in Lazarus for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring -63.01 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.