The Concordant Stratum of The Cypher Nine is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Council Chairman Cypher One with an even hand, and notable for its smutty television, ubiquitous missile silos, and anti-smoking policies. The compassionate, democratic, humorless population of 14.812 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 Healthcare, Environment, 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 99.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Cypher Ninean economy, worth a remarkable 3,973 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 268,229 Fulcrums, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Children grow up believing the sun to be a myth, protesters are up in arms over new nuclear power stations, scientists earn more grant money for reproducing old experiments than trying anything new, and the combined alert sound of a nation simultaneously receiving a text message is a common cause of hearing damage. 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 288,900^th in the world and 301^st in Forest for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -21.31 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.