The Commonwealth of Model 97 is a huge, genial nation, renowned for its complete lack of prisons, avowedly heterosexual populace, and absence of drug laws. The compassionate, democratic population of 806 million Modelians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The medium-sized, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Healthcare, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Trenchia. The average income tax rate is 39.4%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Model 97ian economy, worth 53.3 trillion shells a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Pizza Delivery, Tourism, and Uranium Mining. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 66,164 shells, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Commercial breaks often lead to nervous breakdowns, hordes of unemployed lumberjacks have resorted to cutting down utility poles to satisfy their cravings, a recent political speech drew the ire of nerds everywhere after the speaker claimed that Darth Vader was Harry Potter's father, and the nation excels at displacement. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Model 97's national animal is the pheasant, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Model 97 is ranked 201,666^th in the world and 1,733^rd in the West Pacific for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 336.93 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.