The Theocracy of Pharyngitis is a colossal, safe nation, notable for its rum-swilling pirates, ubiquitous missile silos, and ban on automobiles. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 2.845 billion Pharyngitisians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Pharynx. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 46.9%.

The frighteningly efficient Pharyngitisian economy, worth 358 trillion Hemoglobins a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Woodchip Exports, and Basket Weaving. Black market activity is frequent. Average income is an impressive 125,869 Hemoglobins, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 633,134 per year while the poor average 13,985, a ratio of 45.3 to 1.

Stocks go up when the internet says so, politicians accepting drinks in bars are executed for taking bribes, foreign entanglements are getting spicy, and it's a hard-knock life for the orphans doing factory work for a pittance. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Pharyngitis's national animal is the Christmas Phagocyte, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Pharyngitis is ranked 57,337^th in the world and 11^th in Federation of Martian Colonies for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 4,307.92 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.