The Republic of Lanester is a huge, safe nation, renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, devout population of 277 million Lanestériens are free to succeed or fail in life on their own merits; the successful tend to enjoy an opulent (but moralistic) lifestyle, while the failures can be seen crowding out most jails.

The tiny, moralistic, pro-business government prioritizes Spirituality, although Law & Order, Defense, and Education are also considered important, while Social Policy and Environment are ignored. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 7.4%.

The very strong Lanestérien economy, worth 19.8 trillion euros a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Average income is 71,454 euros, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 236,943 per year while the poor average 16,086, a ratio of 14.7 to 1.

The latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, all major public areas are watched by police surveillance cameras, public incontinence is a growing problem amongst the nation's women, and sheepish teenagers are making eye contact with their parents for the first time in a decade during state-enforced 'no-phones hour'. Crime, especially youth-related, is well under control, despite the fact that it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many laws. Lanester's national animal is the stoat, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Lanester is ranked 31,698^th in the world and 1^st in Breizh for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring 5,273.85 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.