The Dissociative State of Hardscrabble is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, ruled by Dr Norvak Dolokai with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, free-roaming dinosaurs, and rampant corporate plagiarism. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 13.358 billion Hardscrabblers 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 large, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Squash Flats. The average income tax rate is 99.7%.

The frighteningly efficient Hardscrabblean economy, worth a remarkable 3,256 trillion gold florgons a year, is highly specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an amazing 243,794 gold florgons, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Truck drivers turn their engines off and coast whenever they're going downhill, life is somewhat repetitive, the beauty of coastal towns is marred only slightly by all the closed-down storefronts, and a blood-red mark on the doorframe means a building must be passed over for destruction. Crime is totally unknown. Hardscrabble's national animal is the wood shrew, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is The Church Of Charismatic Numismatists.

Hardscrabble is ranked 275,879^th in the world and 13,304^th in The North Pacific for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring -27.13 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.