The Federal Republic of Esparcana is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, notable for its irreverence towards religion, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The quiet, industrious population of 12.894 billion Esparcanans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Defense, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 58.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but sluggish Esparcanan economy, worth 262 trillion bolodars 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 a slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Trout Farming, Information Technology, and Cheese Exports. 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 20,381 bolodars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The automotive industry soaks up huge government handouts, Esparcana's children are widely acknowledged as the most foul-mouthed in the region, voting is voluntary, and government employees have reverted to carrier pigeon due to never-ending virus scans. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Esparcana's national animal is the panther, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Esparcana is ranked 228,813^th in the world and 8,497^th in Lazarus for Highest Food Quality, scoring 9.39 on the Meeshlin-Starr Index.