The Woodhouse Sanctum of A Fine Mess is a gargantuan, orderly nation, renowned for its keen interest in outer space, state-planned economy, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 29.793 billion Fine Messians 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 large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Industry, and Education. The average income tax rate is 73.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Fine Messian economy, worth a remarkable 2,920 trillion $$s a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Woodchip Exports, and Book Publishing. Average income is 98,027 $$s, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.0 times as much as the poorest.

Aggravated apostrophe abusers are admonished and assaulted, rumours have it that a secret police is responsible for the recent spate of missing persons, the government has certified several glow-in-the-dark athletes as drug free, and passive-aggressive congratulations cards inform mums-to-be that their pregnancy is their greatest achievement in life. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. A Fine Mess's national animal is the ^-^, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

A Fine Mess is ranked 217,742^nd in the world and 2^nd in Vorarlberg for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring 447.12 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.