The Holy Empire of 9th Questas is a mid-sized, safe nation, remarkable for its state-planned economy, suspicion of poets, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed population of 62 million 9th Questasians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. The average income tax rate is 63.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish 9th Questasian economy, worth 1.27 trillion deniers a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, highly specialized black market in Trout Farming, Arms Manufacturing, and Information Technology. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 20,462 deniers, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes, organ donation is compulsory, strange looking men with big red noses are found hiding behind bushes and inside dustbins, and UFO sightings are listed daily in the morning news. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. 9th Questas's national animal is the porpoise, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

9th Questas is ranked 262,434^th in the world and 18^th in the Quppet Storage for Most Compassionate Citizens, scoring 39.43 on the Kitten Softness Rating.