The Dictatorship of Hellstep is a huge, cultured nation, notable for its state-planned economy, punitive income tax rates, and restrictive gun laws. The cynical population of 302 million Sinners 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 enormous, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 73.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Hellstepian economy, worth 11.8 trillion sufferings a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Basket Weaving, and Information Technology. Average income is 39,005 sufferings, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Foreign envoys that want to visit Hellstep now have to navigate real minefields in addition to the political ones, serial killers who are released early distribute death but not their seed, terrified tympanists are finding themselves on the front lines armed only with kettledrums, and vats of anabolic steroids are being dumped into the ocean to make Hellstepian mussels the biggest in 10000 Islands. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hellstep's national animal is the demon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Hellstep is ranked 82,198^th in the world and 706^th in 10000 Islands for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring 1,608.88 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.