The Technical Difficulties of Erckstag is a mammoth, pleasant nation, notable for its compulsory military service. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 8.832 billion Erckstagians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The relatively small government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 9.7%.

The strong Erckstagian economy, worth 496 trillion dark rubledollars of death a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Automobile Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Basket Weaving, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is 56,197 dark rubledollars of death, with the richest citizens earning 5.1 times as much as the poorest.

Citizens are barcoded to keep track of their movements, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, organ donation is compulsory, and they say that Erckstagians made a dessert and called it peace. Crime, especially youth-related, is relatively low. Erckstag's national animal is the malicious Osiran shadow hawk, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities.

Erckstag is ranked 258,727^th in the world and 4,330^th in The catholic military orders for Most Compassionate Citizens, scoring 39.43 on the Kitten Softness Rating.