The Puppet of Donauviane of Winterston is a huge, safe nation, ruled by Mika Schmidt with an iron fist, and notable for its sprawling nuclear power plants, otherworldly petting zoo, and frequent executions. The cynical, devout population of 959 million Winterstonians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The medium-sized, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Berlin. The average income tax rate is 40.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Winterstonian economy, worth 61.7 trillion locks a year, is led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 64,372 locks, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Legislators toe the party line lest the Sergeant-at-Arms decide to conduct "truncheon practice" on the backbench, the nation's once beautiful countryside has turned brown as farmers spray potent pesticides, Jennifer Government is banned, and Mika Schmidt has just been declared ruler of Winterston in an international press conference. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Winterston's national animal is the Bear, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Winterston is ranked 59,359^th in the world and 2,748^th in Osiris for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 4,967.35 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.