The Crystal leth dealing cabal of Lethen is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, ruled by Malcolm Mason with an even hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, keen interest in outer space, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, cheerful population of 43.849 billion Lethenians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The tiny, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Arnhelm. The average income tax rate is 2.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Lethenian economy, worth an astonishing 10,398 trillion Golden Farbs a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an amazing 237,145 Golden Farbs, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Parents seeking custody have to write a five-thousand word analysis of their child's imaginary friend, a mushroom a day keeps the sadness away, economists claim no news is good news, and captains must wait until all rats are safe before jumping ship. Crime is totally unknown. Lethen's national animal is the penguin, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Masonic love fest.

Lethen is ranked 1,908^th in the world and 19^th in Europeia for Most Cultured, scoring 271 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.