The Republic of Pauline Astier is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its frequent executions, parental licensing program, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 545 million Pauline Astierians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New York. The average income tax rate is 35.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Pauline Astierian economy, worth 15.8 trillion francs a year, is led by the Trout Farming industry, with major contributions from Woodchip Exports, Basket Weaving, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 28,931 francs, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Ice-filled coffins are ominously positioned in the corner of every hospital ward, private pharmacies close down as medicinal drugs are given away freely by the government, undergrads find their professors' mushroom experiments less psychedelic than expected, and re-education centers are being added to most prisons. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Pauline Astier's national animal is the rooster, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Pauline Astier is ranked 195,314^th in the world and 12^th in FIFA Lands for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 297.87 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.