The Paulownian Imperium of Straknov is a colossal, cultured nation, ruled by Dao Ming Rinxue with an iron fist, and renowned for its keen interest in outer space, sprawling nuclear power plants, and smutty television. The cynical population of 7.59 billion Straknovians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Mirim Jinjaya. The average income tax rate is 68.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Straknovian economy, worth a remarkable 1,254 trillion Lunar Spectrals a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Tourism. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 165,291 Lunar Spectrals, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Trespassers entering Dao Ming Rinxue's office are immediately vaporized, a flying elephant and Dao Ming Rinxue share the same nickname, stone wrist watches that weigh 20lb are the latest trend, and the navy is chrome-plating its battleships to prevent rust. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Straknov's national animal is the 金龍, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is 神道.

Straknov is ranked 281,198^th in the world and 5,921^st in The North Pacific for Most Primitive, scoring -355.63 on the Scary Big Number Scale.