The Federal Republic of Sternow is a large, efficient nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, complete absence of social welfare, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 103 million Sternowitzes are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The tiny, pro-business, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Law & Order. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 7.0%.

The powerhouse Sternowian economy, worth 8.33 trillion Sternowitze Marks a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Gambling industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Uranium Mining, and Furniture Restoration. Average income is 80,893 Sternowitze Marks, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 258,760 per year while the poor average 19,202, a ratio of 13.5 to 1.

After every storm there's an expensive government-funded rainbow, the "feminist protest" defence is increasingly common for cases of armed robbery, new safety regulations require all cars manufactured in Sternow to be bombproof, and whenever pilots have to bail out the government bails out their company. Crime is a problem, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Sternow's national animal is the Great Egret, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Sternow is ranked 275,135^th in the world and 851^st in Europe for Most Extensive Public Healthcare, scoring 626.75 on the Theresa-Nightingale Rating.