The Empire of Brettenwald is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by King Thomas IV Cärrino with an iron fist, and notable for its keen interest in outer space, pith helmet sales, and national health service. The compassionate, cynical, cheerful, devout population of 10.694 billion Brettain 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, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Aurinel. The average income tax rate is 74.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Brettain economy, worth a remarkable 1,204 trillion crowns a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Tourism, and Arms Manufacturing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 112,659 crowns, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Red Cross demand for body bags is rising while sutures go unused, there have been sightings of people walking around dressed in nothing but leopard-skin g-strings for 'religious reasons', raindances intended to summon storms instead attract tourists, and the national security service are a bunch of crooks. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Brettenwald's national animal is the raven, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is The Church of the Seven Gods.

Brettenwald is ranked 13,163^rd in the world and 8^th in The Strategic and Economic Alliance for Lowest Crime Rates, with 96.32 law-abiding acts per hour.