The Sibyl of Altasund is a titanic, genial nation, ruled by Hildegard with an even hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, zero percent divorce rate, and ban on automobiles. The compassionate, devout population of 17.406 billion Benedictines are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bingen. The average income tax rate is 92.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Benedictine economy, worth a remarkable 2,209 trillion marks 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 Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is an impressive 126,914 marks, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The Benedictine delegation to the World Assembly is having a hard time convincing people that international law will "pay for itself somehow...", the government has spread itself thin, celestial bodies that make revolutions receive revolutions, and late night talk show hosts are having a field day over Hildegard's questionably sane new coalition partners. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Altasund's national animal is the cat, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Catholicism.

Altasund is ranked 9,334^th in the world and 127^th in the Rejected Realms for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 12,215.9 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.