The Republic of Gratern is a massive, cultured nation, remarkable for its strictly enforced bedtime, unlimited-speed roads, and keen interest in outer space. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless population of 1.673 billion Graternians are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.

The relatively small, corrupt, pro-business, outspoken government is primarily concerned with Industry, with Administration and Law & Order also on the agenda, while Welfare receives no funds. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 9.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Graternian economy, worth 275 trillion Eclipse Marks a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Soda Sales, and Automobile Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 164,389 Eclipse Marks, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,439,484 per year while the poor average 2,835, a ratio of 507 to 1.

New mothers can pay for their weekly grocery shop with a bottle of breast milk, snap elections are called over every minor impasse, it turns out that you actually can put a price on intangible cultural heritage, and the morbidly obese often sell stock options on their own corpses. Crime is almost non-existent. Gratern's national animal is the Fox, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Gratern is ranked 314,202^nd in the world and 1,184^th in Concord for Safest, scoring 7.9 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.