The Loving Couple of Sapphic-Couple- is a mammoth, efficient nation, ruled by Polly Shulman with an iron fist, and remarkable for its pith helmet sales, national health service, and keen interest in outer space. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 8.862 billion Sapphic-Couple-ians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Industry, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Town Square. The average income tax rate is 46.8%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Sapphic-Couple-ian economy, worth 991 trillion snails a year, is broadly diversified and dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Retail, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 111,843 snails, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.3 times as much as the poorest.

Ride-sharing often involves some passengers sitting on the roof rack, aeroplane cockpits no longer have altimeters or airspeed indicators, solid steel breastplates are in fashion amongst city drivers, and foreigners are treated with great suspicion. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Sapphic-Couple-'s national animal is the owl, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is Cards.

Sapphic-Couple- is ranked 31,413^th in the world and 1^st in The Bottomless Pit for Most Developed, scoring 82.4 on the Human Development Index.