The Democratic States of Portelas is a very large, socially progressive nation, renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape and irreverence towards religion. The compassionate, democratic population of 197 million Portelasians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 26.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Portelasian economy, worth 7.79 trillion ptls a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Woodchip Exports industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Pizza Delivery, and Basket Weaving. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 39,520 ptls, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Police regularly arrest families playing Monopoly, goldfish bowls are three metres in diameter, the mining industry is making inroads into environmentally sensitive areas, and only adults may purchase violent video games. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Portelas's national animal is the owl, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities.

Portelas is ranked 41,460^th in the world and 999^th in the South Pacific for Most Cheerful Citizens, with 51.96 Percentage Of Water Glasses Perceived Half-Full.