The Tri-Confederacy of New Cathen is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Ashjarrin Cairn with an iron fist, and notable for its compulsory military service, pith helmet sales, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 2.139 billion Cathenese are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government.

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Citadel Reyenor. The average income tax rate is 79.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Cathenese economy, worth 322 trillion Credits a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, fairly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Tourism, and Uranium Mining. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 150,701 Credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

New Cathen recently hosted the least successful trade negotiations since The Phantom Menace, search-and-rescue organisations are the biggest employer in the country, losing your sock key may require surgical intervention, and being sent to collections is more dangerous than ever. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. New Cathen's national animal is the Tiger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Cairn Stoicism.

New Cathen is ranked 47,299^th in the world and 22^nd in The Galactics Union for Lowest Crime Rates, with 77.52 law-abiding acts per hour.