The Federal Republic of Lion1748 is a very large, cultured nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and zero percent divorce rate. The hard-working, devout population of 402 million Lion1748ians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 45.6%.

The strong Lion1748ian economy, worth 21.8 trillion catnips a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Automobile Manufacturing. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 54,270 catnips, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 241,442 per year while the poor average 7,593, a ratio of 31.8 to 1.

13-year-old internet trolls are treated as a threat on par with terrorists, the nation's streets have become a winter wonderland of salt and sand, officials pull all-nighters to check immigrants for potential links to terrorists, and doctors spend more time writing sick notes than caring for the sick. Crime, especially youth-related, is almost non-existent, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Lion1748's national animal is the Meowing Cats, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Lion1748 is ranked 251,939^th in the world and 3^rd in Holocene for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 27.89 on the Bus Surprisal Index.