The Commonwealth of Valkenstein is a gargantuan, efficient nation, notable for its daily referendums, infamous sell-swords, and otherworldly petting zoo. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 15.962 billion Valkensteiners are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The tiny, corrupt, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Zurik. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Valkensteiner economy, worth a remarkable 6,764 trillion Syns a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Retail. Average income is an amazing 423,777 Syns, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 2,242,936 per year while the poor average 42,448, a ratio of 52.8 to 1.

Voting is voluntary, one-stop superstores divide and conquer family businesses, nuclear submarines have been deployed to protect the nation's banana supply, and conversion therapy coupons are a popular present for coming of age ceremonies. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Valkenstein's national animal is the Pheonix, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Valkenstein is ranked 291,007^th in the world and 1^st in Hollenthon for Most Beautiful Environments, with 1.25 pounds of wildlife per square mile.