The Dictatorship of Sternfaece is a huge, orderly nation, remarkable for its ritual sacrifices, ubiquitous missile silos, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 636 million Sternfaeceans are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Spirituality, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Jolly Roger. The average income tax rate is 78.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Sternfaecean economy, worth 4.19 trillion coins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Cheese Exports, Information Technology, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 6,588 coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The line of people waiting for a visa interview in front of foreign embassies is typically a mile long, the term "Native Sternfaecean" has been redefined as anyone with the same skin color as the majority, the youth vote is only counted when kindergarten teachers ask who drew the best picture, and women don't report crimes to the emergency services for fear of being arrested. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Sternfaece's national animal is the Dog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Sternfaece is ranked 436^th in the world and 6^th in Psychotic Dictatorships for Most Conservative, scoring 99.62 on the Bush-Santorum Dawning Terror Index.