The Armed Republic of South Cheap is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Diodato Petrov the Great with an iron fist, and remarkable for its public floggings, compulsory vegetarianism, and prohibition of alcohol. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 2.397 billion South Cheap 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, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Atom. The average income tax rate is 70.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient South Cheapian economy, worth 328 trillion Rubrums a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is an impressive 137,031 Rubrums, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.4 times as much as the poorest.

Worrywarts have started advocating for a paint ban, shopkeepers use microscopes to verify the authenticity of banknotes, Red Peacocks with strange deformities like three eyes and tentacles have been seen prancing through the countryside where industrial waste is dumped, and heart attack victims are thrown onto the rails. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. South Cheap's national animal is the Red Peacock, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Children Of Atom.

South Cheap is ranked 270,703^rd in the world and 770^th in Concord for Safest, scoring 7.17 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.