The Kingdom of Untermite is a mammoth, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Art Robinson the Bruce with a fair hand, and notable for its rampant corporate plagiarism, free-roaming dinosaurs, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 8.824 billion Untermitesques love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, outspoken morass — juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Old Butte Village. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Untermitean economy, worth a remarkable 1,980 trillion Ingots a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Information Technology. Average income is an amazing 224,425 Ingots, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Builders across Untermite are blocked up with orders for new public loos, Saturday morning cartoons feature full frontal nudity, droves of former desperados are applying to join the border police, and businesses are required to round down their profits. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Untermite's national animal is the Capybara, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Interconnection.

Untermite is ranked 7,622^nd in the world and 139^th in The East Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 473.06 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.