The Commonwealth of Fordbenz is a huge, orderly nation, notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, parental licensing program, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 215 million Benzians are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

The tiny, corrupt, moralistic, pro-business, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 4.8%.

The powerhouse Fordbenzian economy, worth 18.8 trillion Univs 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 Retail, Book Publishing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 87,516 Univs, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 473,693 per year while the poor average 8,359, a ratio of 56.7 to 1.

The statue in the Tate Plaza has a solar panel for a hat, bad punctuation has come to a full stop, mall countdown clocks warn that there are only 364 more shopping days until Maxxmas, and fur coats have become the latest fashion trend. Crime is moderate, possibly because it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many regulations. Fordbenz's national animal is the Technos, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Fordbenz is ranked 169,673^rd in the world and 3,788^th in The North Pacific for Most Patriotic, with 8.93 flags saluted per person per day.