The Imperial Democratic State of Gran Howitzer is a massive, safe nation, ruled by John L Howitzer II with an even hand, and remarkable for its compulsory military service, smutty television, and public floggings. The hard-nosed population of 1.67 billion Gran Howitzerians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Mount Howitzer. The average income tax rate is 67.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Gran Howitzerian economy, worth 173 trillion Bitcoins a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Retail, Arms Manufacturing, and Information Technology. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 104,061 Bitcoins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Money that should have gone to charities is instead spent on monitoring them, drill sergeants yell in the ears of bespectacled nerds in cybermilitary "reboot camps", museums stand half-empty as all foreign exhibits are returned to their countries of origin, and it's a long jump to get onto the housing ladder. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gran Howitzer's national animal is the Tiger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Artillery.

Gran Howitzer is ranked 147,427^th in the world and 13^th in Hive for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 329.46 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.