The Armed Republic of Dead Hand 43 is a colossal, safe nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The democratic population of 6.42 billion Dead Hand 43ians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. The average income tax rate is 41.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Dead Hand 43ian economy, worth 66.3 trillion Rubles a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Trout Farming, Uranium Mining, and Arms Manufacturing. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 10,328 Rubles, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no 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. Dead Hand 43's national animal is the Bear.

Dead Hand 43 is ranked 299,015^th in the world and 12,412^th in the Rejected Realms for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 6,031.88 Standard Monetary Units.