The Federal Republic of Great Schwanien is a huge, efficient nation, renowned for its suspicion of poets, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 602 million Great Schwanier 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, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nexara. The average income tax rate is 70.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Great Schwanish economy, worth 47.6 trillion Schwani Dollars a year, is dominated by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 79,095 Schwani Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

There's an aura of pseudoscience around academia, truck drivers turn their engines off and coast whenever they're going downhill, snap elections are called over every minor impasse, and economists claim no news is good news. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Great Schwanien's national animal is the swan, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Great Schwanien is ranked 30,962^nd in the world and 421^st in Europe for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 214.99 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.