The Republic of Yurtishka is a huge, cultured nation, remarkable for its otherworldly petting zoo, triple-decker prams, and public floggings. The hard-nosed population of 382 million Yurtishkans are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Upraor. The average income tax rate is 45.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Yurtishkan economy, worth 31.7 trillion Strvs 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 slick, highly efficient, fairly diversified black market in Tourism, Beef-Based Agriculture, Information Technology, and Book Publishing. 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 82,928 Strvs, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Passionate nomination battles are often as intense as general elections, X-Files ratings have hit an all-time low, Leader's opponents have adopted dogs to chase away the mailman, and the nation's generous tax credits have brought all the film studios to the yard. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Yurtishka's national animal is the Mee, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Yurtishka is ranked 48,699^th in the world and 1^st in Watford for Most Secular, with 27.21 Atheism Rate.