The Republic of Gildenshtuck is a colossal, genial nation, ruled by Oliver Blue with an even hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, complete lack of prisons, and ritual sacrifices. The compassionate, devout population of 6.033 billion Gildenshtuckians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Amora. The average income tax rate is 93.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Gildenshtuckian economy, worth 914 trillion Gildens a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing, and Tourism. Black market activity is frequent. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 151,620 Gildens, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

People with political aspirations study how to make balloon animals, the military is slashing spending on conventional arms and diverting it to spending on prosthetic arms, the atmosphere in Gildenshtuckian boardrooms is turning more gay, and they say that Gildenshtuckians made a dessert and called it peace. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Gildenshtuck's national animal is the Falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Freedom Christianity.

Gildenshtuck is ranked 5,852^nd in the world and 255^th in The North Pacific for Most Cultured, scoring 151 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.