The Phospholipid Bilayer of Tripod II is a colossal, orderly nation, ruled by Carey Weed with an iron fist, and renowned for its lack of airports, ritual sacrifices, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, cynical, humorless population of 2.851 billion Tripodlians are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of a jar by the door. The average income tax rate is 95.7%.

The frighteningly efficient Tripodlian economy, worth 310 trillion Synonyms 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 Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving, Tourism, and Gambling. Average income is an impressive 109,033 Synonyms, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, all government communication requires the imprimatur of the Truth Police, beaches are empty as the shark population multiplies exponentially, and cash-strapped junkies lick rabbits for a cheap high. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Tripod II's national animal is the Scone, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is APES.

Tripod II is ranked 307,453^rd in the world and 219^th in The Region That Has No Big Banks for Largest Pizza Delivery Sector, scoring -11.96 on the Pepperoni Propulsion Productivity Index.