The Eternal Misfortune of Pterodoria is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Someone with an iron fist, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, rampant corporate plagiarism, and absence of drug laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 26.497 billion Pterodorians are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The minute, corrupt, pro-business government, or what there is of one, is primarily concerned with Industry, with Defense also on the agenda, while Environment and Law & Order are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Pterodoria City. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Pterodorian economy, worth an astonishing 22,614 trillion Pteralurias a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with significant contributions from Gambling, Soda Sales, and Information Technology. Average income is a breathtaking 853,473 Pteralurias, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 7,994,639 per year while the poor average 7,670, a ratio of 1,042 to 1.

Travelers often bring empty plastic bottles on Air Pterodoria flights to avoid the pay lavatories, robotic spouses prove to be just as imperfect as flesh and blood ones, colonists who were promised new lands find only war-torn devastation, and diplomats miss flights while wandering Pterodoria City Airport's endless art maze. Crime, especially youth-related, is so common that it is unusual to encounter someone following the law, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Pterodoria's national animal is the Pterodactyl, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Business.

Pterodoria is ranked 45^th in the world and 2^nd in Pencil Sharpeners Puppet Storage for Highest Average Incomes, with 853,473.96 Standard Monetary Units.