The Stratocratic Government of Ghirwil is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by General Alexei with an iron fist, and renowned for its disturbing lack of elderly people, triple-decker prams, and prohibition of alcohol. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, devout population of 2.736 billion Ghirilians 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 Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Central Command HQ. The average income tax rate is 39.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Ghirwilian economy, worth 258 trillion Golden Bullets a year, is fairly diversified and dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Automobile Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Information Technology. Black market activity is extensive. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 94,651 Golden Bullets, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

Tourists are denied entry because of a distant relative married to a Lilliputian, the nation is ravaged by daily union strikes, droves of former desperados are applying to join the border police, and major polluting industries have painted a lot of their machines green to give an impression of caring about the environment. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ghirwil's national animal is the Horse, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Ghirwilian Orthodox Christianity.

Ghirwil is ranked 2,120^th in the world and 122^nd in Balder for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring 11,100.55 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.