The Protectorate of Isyphia is a large, safe nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, otherworldly petting zoo, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, democratic, devout population of 189 million Isyphians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Welfare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 68.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Isyphian economy, worth 7.56 trillion Isyphian euros a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is led by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Pizza Delivery, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 40,003 Isyphian euros, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Politicians look weirdly alike, Maxtopian tourists make expensive pilgrimages to Isyphia City to enjoy their national art, sexually-starved male dinosaurs terrorise tourists during weekly breakouts from Mesozoic Park, and works of historical fiction contain a surprising lack of historical figures. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Isyphia's national animal is the mole, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Isyphia is ranked 257,536^th in the world and 1^st in The Holdout for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring -3.46 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.