The Holy Empire of Histarctica is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Emperor Conrad II with an iron fist, and notable for its free-roaming dinosaurs, ritual sacrifices, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 2.911 billion Histarcticans 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 medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Entioch. The average income tax rate is 55.7%.

The all-consuming Histarctican economy, worth 309 trillion UCP Credits a year, is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Information Technology, and Basket Weaving. Black market activity is extensive. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 106,350 UCP Credits, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.1 times as much as the poorest.

To 'cut off family ties' is no longer just a phrase, visitors to Histarctica are microchipped and must be escorted by a Histarctican soldier - even to the bathroom, the banhammer is a standard police sidearm, and foreign lack of enthusiasm for Histarctican nose-flute disco metal is seen as a reasonable casus belli. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Histarctica's national animal is the wolf, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Church of Light.

Histarctica is ranked 22,194^th in the world and 2^nd in United Confederation of Planets for Most Beautiful Environments, with 1,028.63 pounds of wildlife per square mile.