The Confederacy of Hertalin is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its smutty television, daily referendums, and pith helmet sales. The compassionate, democratic population of 2.309 billion Hertalinese are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 88.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Hertalinese economy, worth 208 trillion pounds a year, is highly specialized and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Trout Farming, and Information Technology. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 90,084 pounds, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The Hertalin Enquirer offers weekly cash prizes for 'most blasphemous song, story, or cartoon', teenagers are told they're not thinking about sex enough, kindergartners' favourite dance move is the stop-drop-and-roll, and the number of students attending university has reached a record high. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hertalin's national animal is the dolphin, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Hertalin is ranked 75,645^th in the world and 53^rd in The Internationale for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 102.88 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.