The Holy Empire of Routcher is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Emperor Tywin II with an iron fist, and remarkable for its parental licensing program, sprawling nuclear power plants, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 10.327 billion Routcherians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, well-organized government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Saint Mary. The average income tax rate is 85.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Routcherian economy, worth 619 trillion Crowns a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector is solely comprised of the Information Technology industry. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 59,973 Crowns, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The derisively named "Morlocks of Moria" futilely demand time in the sun, the government is deliberately installing bloatware onto computers, adverts proclaim it has to be healthy if the Mornay uses hand-grated Gallopavian Gruyère, and more than one company makes the board game Monopoly. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Routcher's national animal is the stag, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Autocephalous Morrainean Catholic Church.

Routcher is ranked 139,965^th in the world and 17^th in The Alliance of Absolute Monarchs for Most Corrupt Governments, with 4.34 kickbacks per hour.