The Republic of Almatum is a huge, cultured nation, renowned for its complete lack of prisons, avowedly heterosexual populace, and smutty television. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 340 million Almatumians 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 Education, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Himeriya. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 41.9%.

The thriving Almatumian economy, worth 27.6 trillion Rupiahs a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Basket Weaving, Retail, and Information Technology. Average income is 81,164 Rupiahs, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 261,470 per year while the poor average 19,068, a ratio of 13.7 to 1.

People can get away with murder these days, street preachers spend more time condemning government bureaucracy than passers-by, every day has been a surprise since weather reporters turned to consulting ancient totems for their seven-day forecasts, and the dead fish in the national rivers aren't decomposing because even bacteria can't survive the levels of toxicity. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Almatum's national animal is the sheep, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Almatum is ranked 18,059^th in the world and 2^nd in south east asia for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 8,315.1 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.