The Otter Resurfaces of Gem is a colossal, cultured nation, renowned for its keen interest in outer space, irreverence towards religion, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 4.855 billion Gems 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 large, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 56.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but underdeveloped Gem economy, worth 179 trillion marketable plushies a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Tourism, Book Publishing, Information Technology, and Pizza Delivery. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 37,014 marketable plushies, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Kids these days know how to throw a proper punch, the number of eyes rolled per maths lesson is increasing exponentially, clowns are being rounded up and admitted to mental institutions, and the Gem population often struggles to think straight. Crime is totally unknown. Gem's national animal is the otter, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans, and its national religion is Official Otter Fan Club.

Gem is ranked 172,332^nd in the world and 504^th in Europeia for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 32.24 on the Bus Surprisal Index.