The Nuts and Bolts of Decacon is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Malachi with an even hand, and notable for its pith helmet sales, parental licensing program, and frequent executions. The hard-nosed population of 18.01 billion Ten-Fingers are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The 10th District. The average income tax rate is 91.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Ten-Fingered economy, worth a remarkable 1,340 trillion Decis a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing. Average income is 74,415 Decis, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Twelfth-generation Ten-Fingers are deported for not knowing Malachi's childhood nickname, Occam's razor has sliced to pieces any childhood belief in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, quiet professionalism has returned to the nation's armed forces, and infantry are nicknamed "mushrooms" because they get fed crap and are left in the dark. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Decacon's national animal is the Ten-Fingered Alligator, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Decacon is ranked 14,191^st in the world and 118^th in Europeia for Most Beautiful Environments, with 1,279.01 pounds of wildlife per square mile.