The Free Land of Phodopus is a very large, genial nation, renowned for its irreverence towards religion, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate population of 327 million Phodosians enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 81.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Phodopusian economy, worth 19.4 trillion Cricets a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Tourism. Average income is 59,265 Cricets, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

It ain't easy to be green enough to be imported into Phodopus, citizens with artificial limbs are forbidden to serve as beauty pageant judges, power stations shutting down at night has made bedtime reading tricky, and even secular Phodosians are shouting "Blessed are the cheesemakers!". Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Phodopus's national animal is the Prairie Vole, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Phodopus is ranked 323,143^rd in the world and 4,594^th in The North Pacific for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring -9.03 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.