The Holy Empire of Shatki is a mammoth, orderly nation, ruled by Ivan I The Great with an iron fist, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, pith helmet sales, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 7.871 billion Shatkoviteses 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 medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Shatki. The average income tax rate is 97.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Shatkian economy, worth a remarkable 3,405 trillion Rubles 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 an enormous, deeply entrenched, broadly diversified black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Retail. 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 an amazing 432,662 Rubles, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Cremation is compulsory for the deceased, self-sufficiency is built on seizing foreign assets, school cafeterias serve nothing but protein powder and vitamin supplements, and thieves find battery shops juicier targets than banks. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Shatki's national animal is the Deer, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Scientific Atheism.

Shatki is ranked 19,895^th in the world and 5^th in The Invaders for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 3,353.17 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.