The Holy Federation of New Fernia is a mammoth, orderly nation, ruled by Jeb Bush with an iron fist, and notable for its public floggings, zero percent divorce rate, and compulsory vegetarianism. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 9.397 billion New Fernians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Spirituality. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ferncliffe. The average income tax rate is 90.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming New Fernian economy, worth a remarkable 1,283 trillion pounds a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is an enormous, deeply entrenched, highly specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Furniture Restoration. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. State-owned companies are the norm. Average income is an impressive 136,566 pounds, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Criminals are put to death while cuddling their favourite teddy bear, the police go to great efforts to seize contraband favored by politicians on the police oversight committee, arthritic surgeons with tremulous fingers reassure patients that they are in safe hands, and musicians are often arrested for saying "oh my God". Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. New Fernia's national animal is the mountain dragon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Fennism.

New Fernia is ranked 841^st in the world and 3^rd in the Plains of Perdition for Most Devout, with 14,056.86 prayers per hour.