The Protectorate of Parathania is a massive, efficient nation, remarkable for its irreverence towards religion, suspicion of poets, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-working, democratic population of 1.629 billion Parathanians 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 tiny, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Public Transport, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Parathania City. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 6.9%.

The very strong Parathanian economy, worth 95.0 trillion qomfens a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 58,318 qomfens, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 194,104 per year while the poor average 13,056, a ratio of 14.9 to 1.

In life full of care there is no time to stop and stare, the entire entry for Parathania in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the World reads 'mostly harmless', endocrinology is a rapidly growing field of study, and frequent fliers are obliged to submit to invasive security procedures by government security. Crime is a problem, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Parathania's national animal is the ape of the hills, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Parathania is ranked 75,841^st in the world and 45^th in Starlight for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 38.35 on the Bus Surprisal Index.