The Emirate of Thunder Bird is a colossal, socially progressive nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, suspicion of poets, and stringent health and safety legislation. The cynical population of 4.568 billion Thunder Birdians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 39.9%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Thunder Birdian economy, worth 47.2 trillion dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Trout Farming, Soda Sales, and Automobile Manufacturing. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 10,333 dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The tenet of free speech is held dear, singing in public is only allowed if you are singing the praise of the Motherland, organ donation is compulsory, and the nation is known abroad for fast food and nothing else. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Thunder Bird's national animal is the sheep.

Thunder Bird is ranked 293,048^th in the world and 1^st in Abydos for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -8.37 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.