The Republic of Taustrian Desert is a tiny, orderly nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, compulsory military service, and stringent health and safety legislation. The cynical, devout population of 9 million Taustrian Desertians are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The large, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Spirituality, and Education. The average income tax rate is 55.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The weak Taustrian Desertian economy, worth 258 billion florins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Cheese Exports, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is 28,767 florins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Taustrian Desert's national animal is the turtle.

Taustrian Desert is ranked 159,777^th in the world and 6,154^th in Osiris for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 341.33 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.