The Paradise of Parenthos is a titanic, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by a Phoenix named Aslan with an iron fist, and remarkable for its frequent executions, compulsory vegetarianism, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, cynical, humorless population of 19.769 billion Parenthians 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 government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Voa. The average income tax rate is 98.1%.

The frighteningly efficient Parenthosian economy, worth a remarkable 4,388 trillion golds a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is an enormous, deeply entrenched, highly specialized black market in Tourism, Book Publishing, and Basket Weaving. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. State-owned companies are the norm. Average income is an amazing 221,972 golds, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.4 times as much as the poorest.

Mantis shrimp studies is academia's fastest-growing field, every Parenthian is a king, the revelation that people were sexist in the past is apparently front page news, and a little love goes a long way claim Parenthosian news. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, despite the fact that it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many laws. Parenthos's national animal is the Phoenix, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is kombucha.

Parenthos is ranked 754^th in the world and 22^nd in the South Pacific for Most Cultured, scoring 418 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.