The Empire of Isterux is a large, safe nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-working, cynical population of 98 million Isteruxians 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. The average income tax rate is 30.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Isteruxian economy, worth 6.84 trillion Chili Cheese Dogs a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Automobile Manufacturing, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 69,804 Chili Cheese Dogs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.9 times as much as the poorest.

Freighter lifeboats have been replaced by state of the art marker buoys so divers can recover the cargo after they sink, it's always rabbit season, nine-year-olds' chat logs are scoured for evidence of radicalization, and prison walls have had to be modified to keep parkour-trained criminals from escaping. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Isterux's national animal is the Raven, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.

Isterux is ranked 56,836^th in the world and 182^nd in Europe for Most Extreme, scoring 30.1 on the Paul-Nader Subjective Decentrality Index.