The Second Best Colony of Second Best Puppet 197 is a colossal, cultured nation, ruled by Noah with an iron fist, and renowned for its rum-swilling pirates, museums and concert halls, and infamous sell-swords. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 7.897 billion Second Best Puppet 197ians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The large, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Law & Order, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 93.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Second Best Puppet 197ian economy, worth a remarkable 1,473 trillion cards a year, is broadly diversified and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Retail, Information Technology, Woodchip Exports, and Uranium Mining. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 186,538 cards, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

The police have been known to wiretap confessional boxes, rebuilding efforts for a recently destroyed cathedral aren't expected to be completed for another century, military doctrine says not to open fire until you see the "beady little eyes" of Johnny Foreigner, and people are more interested in gossip about the private lives of politicians than their policies. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Second Best Puppet 197's national animal is the legendary, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Second Best Puppet 197 is ranked 283,642^nd in the world and 2,368^th in Two for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 12,311.56 Standard Monetary Units.