The Secret Society of Bowker is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Andrion with an iron fist, and remarkable for its smutty television, national health service, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical, cheerful population of 32.485 billion Bowkerians are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government.

The medium-sized, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Sister Cities. The average income tax rate is 63.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Bowkerian economy, worth a remarkable 3,769 trillion Triganic Pus a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Information Technology, and Trout Farming. Average income is an impressive 116,024 Triganic Pus, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Security reviews double as political propaganda, the recycled air in planes is nauseating, soldiers are taught to throw their guns at their enemies once the bullets have run out, and students are known to arrive at school in their pyjamas. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bowker's national animal is the small apple worm, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Bowker is ranked 4,240^th in the world and 1^st in The Cursed Continent of Lodoss for Most Cultured, scoring 173 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.