The Unceasing Beat of The Thunderskin is a titanic, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by The Thunderskin with an even hand, and notable for its lack of airports, absence of drug laws, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, devout population of 13.481 billion Thunderskinians 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 government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Mansus. The average income tax rate is 61.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Thunderskinian economy, worth a remarkable 1,321 trillion Spintrias a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Woodchip Exports, Retail, and Pizza Delivery. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 98,055 Spintrias, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.6 times as much as the poorest.

Stores employing more than 100 employees are required to be at least twenty miles from any competitor, frightened witnesses and seriously ill jurors wear the same handcuffs as the defendant, the government is under the thumb of countless special interests, and the silencing of dissent speaks volumes about the quality of Thunderskinian democracy. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Thunderskin's national animal is the Percussigant, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Unceasing.

The Thunderskin is ranked 246,506^th in the world and 14^th in The Mansus for Nicest Citizens, with 9.76 average smiles per day.