The Empire of Tissen is a mid-sized, cultured nation, notable for its compulsory military service and irreverence towards religion. The cynical population of 73 million Tissenians 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 relatively small government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 12.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Tissenian economy, worth 3.35 trillion Sticks a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Beef-Based Agriculture industry, with major contributions from Retail, Woodchip Exports, and Arms Manufacturing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 45,876 Sticks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.8 times as much as the poorest.

Racial and religious segregation has become rife as the various groups are loath to mingle, elections have been outlawed, gambling is outlawed, and citizens are barcoded to keep track of their movements. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Tissen's national animal is the lion.

Tissen is ranked 254,274^th in the world and 2,312^th in the Pacific for Most Rebellious Youth, scoring -8 on the Stark-Dean Displacement Index.