The Holy Empire of Histarctica is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Emperor Conrad II with an iron fist, and renowned for its infamous sell-swords, smutty television, and ubiquitous missile silos. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 2.935 billion Histarcticans 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 medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Entioch. The average income tax rate is 56.2%.

The all-consuming Histarctican economy, worth 297 trillion UCP Credits a year, is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Information Technology, and Basket Weaving. Black market activity is frequent. Average income is an impressive 101,428 UCP Credits, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.4 times as much as the poorest.

Foreign lack of enthusiasm for Histarctican nose-flute disco metal is seen as a reasonable casus belli, mostly women are seen and not heard, the government is attempting to revitalize a gutted private sector, and the tribal zone has been opened to up to 'economic interest' groups. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Histarctica's national animal is the wolf, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Church of Light.

Histarctica is ranked 92,279^th in the world and 11^th in United Confederation of Planets for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 44,425.58 Standard Monetary Units.