The Republic of Appalachya 9 is a massive, efficient nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic population of 1.246 billion Appalachya 9ians 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 minute, pro-business government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 5.7%.

The very strong Appalachya 9ian economy, worth 85.0 trillion Dollars a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Gambling industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Pizza Delivery, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 68,229 Dollars, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 256,435 per year while the poor average 12,672, a ratio of 20.2 to 1.

The latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, surveillance cameras are banned, the alarmingly racist TV show 'Bigtopians Say the Darndest Things' is a hit, and the "war on terror" doesn't seem to be making Appalachya 9ians any less frightened. Crime is moderate, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Appalachya 9's national animal is the Eagle, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities.

Appalachya 9 is ranked 229,879^th in the world and 1^st in Gagium for Safest, scoring 43.72 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.