The United Socialist States of Zaratov is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Supreme Kommissar Sovyetskaga-Soyuza with an iron fist, and renowned for its ubiquitous missile silos, vat-grown people, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 14.325 billion Zaratovians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government is effectively ruled by the Department of Defense, with Law & Order and Education also on the agenda, while Spirituality and International Aid aren't funded at all. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Derzhost. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Zaratovian economy, worth a remarkable 8,030 trillion Rubles a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is an enormous, deeply entrenched, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Beef-Based Agriculture. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is a breathtaking 560,625 Rubles, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

High-tech infantry rifles automatically reload when the soldier shoots outside the screen of their helmet HUD, phone taps are frequently carried out by the police, the practice of capital punishment proves divisive, and police drones follow every suspected Peeping Tom. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zaratov's national animal is the Great Gray Owl, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is State Atheism.

Zaratov is ranked 762^nd in the world and 6^th in The Leftist Assembly for Lowest Crime Rates, with 179.39 law-abiding acts per hour.