The Most Serene Republic of Istastioner is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Alexandria Hamilton with a fair hand, and remarkable for its state-planned economy, fear of technology, and unlimited-speed roads. The compassionate, democratic, humorless population of 4.574 billion Istastionerians 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, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Milford City. The average income tax rate is 96.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Istastionerian economy, worth 950 trillion Istastionerian Credits 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 Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Retail. 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 an amazing 207,771 Istastionerian Credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Maxtopians are both starving and giddy after the Istastionerian military unleashed its biological weapons, international humanitarian organisations are applauding the government for ending the death penalty, money can't buy love but mercy is entirely negotiable, and the nation's atlases tend to go out of date every few weeks. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Istastioner's national animal is the Red Fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Roman Catholicism.

Istastioner is ranked 95,756^th in the world and 831^st in Europe for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 87.88 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.