The Principality of Parentheses is a colossal, orderly nation, remarkable for its state-planned economy, keen interest in outer space, and zero percent divorce rate. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 2.672 billion Parenthesesians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nooga. The average income tax rate is 56.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Parenthesesian economy, worth 335 trillion legendaries a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a large, well-organized, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Woodchip Exports, and Furniture Restoration. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 125,386 legendaries, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Citizens with artificial limbs are forbidden to serve as beauty pageant judges, Leader isn't a national brand, human tissue is grown in vats as a delicacy as well as for transplants, and government officials frown on anything more technologically advanced than an abacus. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Parentheses's national animal is the puppet, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Parentheses is ranked 128,141^st in the world and 124^th in International Puppet Storage for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 1,292.91 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.