The Republic of NAS48 is a colossal, efficient nation, remarkable for its ban on automobiles, ritual sacrifices, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed population of 4.282 billion NAS48ians 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 medium-sized, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Industry. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 33.2%.

The powerhouse NAS48ian economy, worth 402 trillion Marks a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Woodchip Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 94,104 Marks, with the richest citizens earning 8.7 times as much as the poorest.

Park rangers perform full-body searches on suspected fungus smugglers, scientific journals publish third-graders' school essays, nobody likes bad boys any more, and the daily weather forecast often predicts light showers of debris. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. NAS48's national animal is the Eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

NAS48 is ranked 44,251^st in the world and 8^th in The Ninth Army for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 4,941.5 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.