The United Kingdom of Blackfriars is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its zero percent divorce rate, compulsory military service, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, devout population of 1.189 billion Blackfriars are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Whitecloak. The average income tax rate is 77.4%.

The Blackfriar economy, worth 48.8 trillion Gold Bars a year, is highly specialized and led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing and Retail. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 41,051 Gold Bars, with the richest citizens earning 5.0 times as much as the poorest.

Builders across Blackfriars are blocked up with orders for new public loos, there's more vermin than ever on the metro, the government has spent days debating the merits of a petition calling for a ban on sporks, and escargots have lost their charm ever since they started to be called 'cooked land snails'. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Blackfriars's national animal is the Corgi, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Blackfriars is ranked 305,643^rd in the world and 3^rd in Knights Hospitaller for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -14.17 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.