The Confederated Empire of Derthalen is a titanic, orderly nation, ruled by Otto with an iron fist, and remarkable for its enslaved workforce, frequent executions, and compulsory gun ownership. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 20.283 billion Derthaler 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 large, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Healthcare, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Heinrichstadt. The average income tax rate is 78.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Derthaler economy, worth a remarkable 2,403 trillion Thalers a year, is dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Uranium Mining, and Furniture Restoration. Black market activity is frequent. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 118,510 Thalers, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.0 times as much as the poorest.

Many whiskies taste suspiciously like automobile radiators, lobbyists are trying to convince government to recategorize most natural disasters as "non-critical naturogenic inconveniences", illegal book-trafficking rings dominate the black market, and kids refer to anything below the neck as "the parts that shall not be named". Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Derthalen's national animal is the Adler, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Hailags Triggwitha.

Derthalen is ranked 8,027^th in the world and 1^st in Victrix for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 6,394.69 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.