The United Socialist States of Span is a behemoth, socially progressive nation, ruled by M Shobacus Maz with a fair hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, keen interest in outer space, and hatred of cheese. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 51.367 billion Spanners 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 medium-sized, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Maz. The average income tax rate is 97.1%.

The frighteningly efficient Spanner economy, worth an astonishing 15,921 trillion spannies a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Information Technology. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an amazing 309,948 spannies, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The sanitised and dull music festivals of Span are famed for their reasonable volume levels, the acceptance of acupuncture and other alternative therapies has needled the scientific community, the government officially wants you to slow down and speak more clearly, and elections demand a proportionate response. Crime is totally unknown. Span's national animal is the donkey, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Span is ranked 218,212^th in the world and 1,564^th in The North Pacific for Largest Black Market, with 352 billion Standard Monetary Units.