The Empire of Gerwies is a huge, cultured nation, renowned for its daily referendums, zero percent divorce rate, and keen interest in outer space. The compassionate, hard-working population of 604 million Gerwiesians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Hannover. The average income tax rate is 30.8%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Gerwiesian economy, worth 33.9 trillion Euros a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Woodchip Exports industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 56,202 Euros, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.0 times as much as the poorest.

Loud Patriotic Music Day has been ranked the seventh best new holiday of the year, polling place volunteers are suddenly opening a huge number of offshore bank accounts, weapons produced by newly nationalized armaments factories have been found to contain sawdust instead of gunpowder, and property subletting is going underground. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gerwies's national animal is the Fox, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Gerwies is ranked 134,540^th in the world and 539^th in Europe for Most Authoritarian, with 780.1 milliStalins.