The Republic of Thettern is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its ritual sacrifices, keen interest in outer space, and suspicion of poets. The compassionate, humorless, devout population of 2.919 billion Thetternians 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, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Industry. The average income tax rate is 51.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Thetternian economy, worth 455 trillion deniers a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Tourism, and Woodchip Exports. Black market activity is extensive. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 156,092 deniers, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.2 times as much as the poorest.

Brave curators do battle with disorganised government libraries, hospitals have to sell their computers on vBay in order to afford the ransomware decryption payments, parents giddily refuse to pay their toddlers' medical bills, and medical experts advise that those claiming to be medical experts are probably fraudsters. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Thettern's national animal is the elephant, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Thettern is ranked 126,252^nd in the world and 2,667^th in The North Pacific for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 930.31 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.