The Most Serene Republic of Piehu is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by Dusk Maine with an even hand, and renowned for its national health service, pith helmet sales, and compulsory gun ownership. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 6.609 billion Piehuans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The medium-sized, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nihil City. The average income tax rate is 98.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Piehuan economy, worth a remarkable 4,214 trillion Piehuan Dollars 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, Tourism, 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 a breathtaking 637,701 Piehuan Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The government is promoting multicultural values with the new 'Just Be Nice, OK?' initiative, Piehu's free colleges struggle to maintain standards in the face of overwhelming demand, pulling weeds is seen as a threat to national security, and drunk drivers are sent to rehabilitation paid for by the government. Crime is totally unknown. Piehu's national animal is the Piehuan Peacock, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Piehu is ranked 300^th in the world and 1^st in The Kodiak Republic for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 24,984.1 on the Gilded Widget Scale.