The Department of Hautes-Pyrenees is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Michel Pelieu with an even hand, and remarkable for its compulsory military service, keen interest in outer space, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 20.465 billion Bigourdans are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Spirituality. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Tarbes. The average income tax rate is 17.9%.

The Bigourdan economy, worth 983 trillion francs a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Information Technology. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 48,078 francs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.0 times as much as the poorest.

Crossword puzzles have been co-opted as a symbol of racial discrimination, a child's only Trickster Night scare is the sight of their parents dancing, citizens receive notices of disenfranchisement along with their parking tickets, and state-sanctioned torture is okay so long as there's no icky blood. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force. Hautes-Pyrenees's national animal is the lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Roman Catholicism.

Hautes-Pyrenees is ranked 243,354^th in the world and 51^st in Department Store for Highest Average Tax Rates, with 17.94 Effective Tax Rate.