The Eternal Misfortune of Pterodoria is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Someone with an iron fist, and remarkable for its sprawling nuclear power plants, frequent executions, and triple-decker prams. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 26.7 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, well-organized government, or what there is of one, is primarily concerned with Industry, with Defense also on the agenda, while Environment and Law & Order receive no funds. 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 22,895 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 857,525 Pteralurias, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 8,032,588 per year while the poor average 7,707, a ratio of 1,042 to 1.

Ports have ground to a halt as no boat can reach them without trespassing, Animal Liberationists are regularly arrested, supermarket milk is a shear-thickening fluid that can stop small-caliber bullets, and Pterodoria City moves with the times. 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 2,577^th in the world and 4^th in Pencil Sharpeners Puppet Storage for Smartest Citizens, with 178.39 quips per hour.