The Sacred Forests of Derward is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by the Diet with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, rampant corporate plagiarism, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 36.48 billion Derwardians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Environment, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Haral. The average income tax rate is 80.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Derwardian economy, worth a remarkable 2,614 trillion bartered coins a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector is mostly comprised of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 71,662 bartered coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Drug lords often avoid prison time by teaching "chemistry" classes to underprivileged youth, strategic bombers are being converted into preschools, intellectual snobbery has the cognoscenti sneering at anyone who doesn't have an opinion on the semiological drift of Umberto Eco's works, and being able to unblock a u-bend pipe is considered a universally essential skill. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Derward's national animal is the unicorn, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is nature worship.

Derward is ranked 2,955^th in the world and 7^th in Lodoss for Largest Populations, with 36.5 billion capita.