The Concordant Stratum of The Cypher Nine is a titanic, genial nation, ruled by Council Chairman Cypher One with an even hand, and remarkable for its keen interest in outer space, punitive income tax rates, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, humorless population of 20.011 billion Cypherians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government is primarily concerned with Education, with Environment, Healthcare, and Industry also on the agenda, while Spirituality and Defense receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Cypher One - Administrative Block. The average income tax rate is 99.8%.

The frighteningly efficient Cypher Ninean economy, worth a remarkable 5,701 trillion Fulcrums a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism. Average income is an amazing 284,922 Fulcrums, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Light entertainment shows are light on actual entertainment, starving citizens are offered nuclear pasta, Super Barry Brothers is the most popular video game in the nation, and Council Chairman Cypher One's office has a newly installed Max-Man arcade game programmed by a 5th-grader. Crime is totally unknown. The Cypher Nine's national animal is the Voltaic Shark, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

The Cypher Nine is ranked 12,104^th in the world and 94^th in Forest for Largest Welfare Programs, scoring 4,127.72 on the Safety Net Mesh Density Rating.