The Kingdom of Gripthen is a massive, safe nation, ruled by Lewo Durin with an even hand, and notable for its pith helmet sales, public floggings, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, hard-working, cynical population of 1.785 billion Gripthenians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Christe. The average income tax rate is 33.8%.

The powerhouse Gripthenian economy, worth 192 trillion Gripthenian Dollars a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with significant contributions from Automobile Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Average income is an impressive 107,823 Gripthenian Dollars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.2 times as much as the poorest.

Wilderness-dwelling hermits are surprised to find railway stations on their front doorsteps, modern warfare's call of duty isn't popular with gamers these days, the nation leads Lazarus in per capita stalking, and prison visits increase substantially during election years. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gripthen's national animal is the Falcon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is Roman Catholicism.

Gripthen is ranked 254,095^th in the world and 9,556^th in Lazarus for Most Cultured, scoring 62 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.