The Republic of Buteray is a titanic, cultured nation, ruled by Eduardo Mendoza with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, lack of airports, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, democratic, devout population of 19.842 billion Buterayans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Rapua. The average income tax rate is 66.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Buterayan economy, worth a remarkable 1,362 trillion Yeels a year, is quite specialized and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Trout Farming, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 68,644 Yeels, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Politicians bribe ten-year-old geniuses to sit their aptitude tests, professionals are ready to retire by the time they receive permission to use their credentials, graffiti graces every city's streets, and a handful of megacorporations own every "craft brewery" in the nation. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Buteray's national animal is the Scarlet Ayew, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Buteray is ranked 195,350^th in the world and 13^th in The Great Storm for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring zero on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.