The United Socialist States of Ashlantic is a fledgling, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic, devout population of 6 million Ashlanticians enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 69.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The basket case Ashlantician economy, worth 67.4 billion Ashcoins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is mostly made up of the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving, Tourism, and Retail. Average income is 11,235 Ashcoins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Kids are arrested at gunpoint for playing with toy rifles, political dissidents are cut off from essential services, foreign leaders are advising that Leader's letters must have gotten lost in the mail, and cricket farmers use magnifying glasses to fit every member of their herd with tiny tracking tags. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ashlantic's national animal is the Ashlantic Penguin, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Ashlantic is ranked 57,670^th in the world and 298^th in The Leftist Assembly for Highest Drug Use, scoring 264.4 on the Pineapple Fondness Rating.