The Empire of Bathera is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by Grand Baron Elam Ol'ced IV with an even hand, and remarkable for its rum-swilling pirates, museums and concert halls, and ban on automobiles. The hard-nosed, humorless, devout population of 8.408 billion Batherans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The relatively small, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bathera City. The average income tax rate is 69.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Batheran economy, worth a remarkable 1,933 trillion Baht 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, quite specialized black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Tourism. 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 an amazing 229,983 Baht, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Statue-sitting has replaced the stake-out as the dullest form of police duty, ambitious "businessmen" use their children to sell and advertise their products, the national census includes an opt-in to join the government-run dating service, and business meetings across the country are interrupted by the sound of squeaking whoopee-cushions. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Bathera's national animal is the Bat, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Christianity.

Bathera is ranked 26,024^th in the world and 152^nd in Europe for Highest Wealthy Incomes, with 283,350 Standard Monetary Units.