The Lost In Space of Mystris is a colossal, cultured nation, ruled by Marcus Virelial with a fair hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, unlimited-speed roads, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 3.589 billion Mystrisians hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Lunaris Valderin. The average income tax rate is 69.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Mystrisian economy, worth 599 trillion euros a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Retail. Average income is an impressive 167,159 euros, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.3 times as much as the poorest.

An increasing percentage of the population's youth have homosexual parents, political talk shows often have children as guests whenever they need commentary on world religions, bemused citizens are encouraged to sing foreign-language hymns of religions they have never heard of, and park rangers struggle to deal with a rash of stolen pic-a-nic baskets. Crime is totally unknown. Mystris's national animal is the Taiga Rivercat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Mystris is ranked 135,909^th in the world and 1,991^st in The North Pacific for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 735.56 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.