The Republic of Bywell is a massive, efficient nation, remarkable for its complete lack of prisons, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 1.273 billion Bywellians 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 enormous government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Mount Hope. The average income tax rate is 80.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Bywellian economy, worth 127 trillion Bywellian Dollars a year, is highly specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 100,189 Bywellian Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Museums stand half-empty as all foreign exhibits are returned to their countries of origin, students are known to arrive at school in their pyjamas, photographers can be found hiding behind the curtains in Leader's bedroom, and the nation's navy has been named the scourge of the seven thousand seas. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bywell's national animal is the Alpaca, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Bywell is ranked 140,345^th in the world and 5,887^th in The North Pacific for Most Extreme, scoring 15.22 on the Paul-Nader Subjective Decentrality Index.