The Banana Bread Provider of Erastide is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Polgara with an even hand, and renowned for its anti-smoking policies, smutty television, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 42.311 billion Erastideans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Kytum. The average income tax rate is 99.0%.

The enormous but underdeveloped Erastian economy, worth a remarkable 3,580 trillion ducats a year, is extremely specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 84,633 ducats, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Astronauts take one small step for Erastide and one giant step backward from confrontation, Polgara's campaign events reach their climax when the celebrity endorsers reveal themselves, the only thing slower than the economy is the exchange where it's managed, and endangered bison are herded across the border to prevent them from trampling on native prairie grass. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Erastide's national animal is the peacock, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Erastide is ranked 3,895^th in the world and 1^st in Lemuria for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 19,884.28 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.