The Protectorate of Isyphia is a mid-sized, safe nation, remarkable for its frequent executions, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, democratic, devout population of 56 million Isyphians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Welfare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 67.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Isyphian economy, worth 2.10 trillion Isyphian euros a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is led by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Pizza Delivery, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 37,581 Isyphian euros, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Children playing with walkie-talkies are told to 'get a job', talkative students are escorted from schools in second-hand prison buses, the black market offers sweet deals, and the nation's government buildings are remarkable for being ugly concrete boxes. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Isyphia's national animal is the mole, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Isyphia is ranked 30,570^th in the world and 1^st in The Holdout for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 5,619.57 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.