The Empire of Beriwen is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Cordelia Scott with an even hand, and remarkable for its national health service, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, cheerful population of 19.317 billion Beriwenians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Siville. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Beriwenian economy, worth a remarkable 4,811 trillion Beriens a year, is highly specialized and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Information Technology and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an amazing 249,074 Beriens, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

It is believed that belligerence is a passing phase foreign leaders will soon outgrow, it takes months to get the proper permits for a child's first tricycle, the volume of paperwork used to complete a single environmental assessment defeats the purpose, and political parties are banned from advertising and receiving private donations. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Beriwen's national animal is the Moose, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Lutheran Christianity.

Beriwen is ranked 233^rd in the world and 5^th in Europe for Most Beautiful Environments, with 8,241.45 pounds of wildlife per square mile.