The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by John Koenig with an even hand, and notable for its sprawling nuclear power plants, absence of drug laws, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 2.417 billion Sorrowsians enjoy extensive civil freedoms, particularly in social issues, while business tends to be more regulated.

The large, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nazarick. The average income tax rate is 90.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Sorrowsian economy, worth 342 trillion Minoes a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 141,650 Minoes, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The government pours millions of Minoes into rehabilitation programs annually, with increasingly clear skies nobody seems to mind the electricity bill going through the roof, political satirists and late night comedians weep as the government begins cleaning up its act, and a favorite "life hack" for gap year backpackers is to pretend to be homeless for government handouts. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Obscure Sorrows's national animal is the lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Morii.

Obscure Sorrows is ranked 79,168^th in the world and 3,020^th in the South Pacific for Most Politically Free, scoring 69.81 on the Diebold Election Inking Scale.