The Empire of Gripend is a titanic, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its irreverence towards religion, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 13.342 billion Gripendians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Public Transport. The average income tax rate is 70.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but stagnant Gripendian economy, worth 227 trillion Coins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Uranium Mining industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Automobile Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Average income is 17,067 Coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Voting is voluntary, Animal Liberationists are regularly arrested, organ donation rates are among the lowest in the region, and a recent political speech drew the ire of nerds everywhere after the speaker claimed that Darth Vader was Harry Potter's father. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gripend's national animal is the whatever, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Gripend is ranked 270,471^st in the world and 8^th in The Savage Garden for Nicest Citizens, with 6.19 average smiles per day.