The Most Serene Republic of Siastrium is a colossal, orderly nation, ruled by Parivan Sentolis with an iron fist, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, public floggings, and frequent executions. The hard-working, cynical population of 2.756 billion Siastriumites are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The tiny, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Siastriumara. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 7.5%.

The very strong Siastriumian economy, worth 157 trillion Miyards a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Gambling, Furniture Restoration, and Pizza Delivery. Average income is 57,123 Miyards, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 208,339 per year while the poor average 11,124, a ratio of 18.7 to 1.

Young girls often attend the same schools as their children, Lady Justice has swapped her blindfold for steel-capped boots, nervous homeowners have been blamed for rising death rates amongst carol singers and locksmiths, and employers may fire workers without giving any reason. Crime is a problem, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Siastrium's national animal is the Steam Dragon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is Sentinnista.

Siastrium is ranked 262,169^th in the world and 15^th in The Cherlands for Most Advanced Law Enforcement, scoring 723.78 on the Orwell Orderliness Index.