The Burnished Rows of Steel of Iron Bark is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by Nizar Qabbani with an iron fist, and notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, public floggings, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 26.521 billion Iron Barkians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The relatively small, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Marshalsea. The average income tax rate is 39.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Iron Barkian economy, worth a remarkable 4,419 trillion $$s a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a large, well-organized, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Gambling. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 166,643 $$s, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.8 times as much as the poorest.

APCs on school runs disgorge kids via assault ramps, recapturing giraffes is proving to be a tall order, those on cloud nine have been relocated to cloud negative six, and insurance companies charge extortionate premiums to cover homes near waterways. Crime, especially youth-related, is a problem, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Iron Bark's national animal is the yellowfin tuna, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Iron Bark is ranked 56,848^th in the world and 5^th in Islam for Most Developed, scoring 75.46 on the Human Development Index.