The Most Serene Republic of Ishtimbine is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by the Executive Council with an even hand, and notable for its state-planned economy, daily referendums, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, humorless, devout population of 11.178 billion Ishtimbenians 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, Environment, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ishtimbine City. The average income tax rate is 98.0%.

The thriving Ishtimbinean economy, worth a remarkable 1,398 trillion Exchange Standards a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is mostly comprised of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 125,109 Exchange Standards, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Many Ishtimbenians struggle to find outlets for their pent-up competitive juices, the mining industry is making inroads into environmentally sensitive areas, politicians are forced to wear portable lie detectors at all times, and suburban backyards are seized by the government and turned into national parks. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ishtimbine's national animal is the Sitting Bird, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is the Abrahamic Faiths.

Ishtimbine is ranked 4,873^rd in the world and 192^nd in The North Pacific for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 15,283.11 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.