The Republic of Vurk is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its keen interest in outer space, compulsory vegetarianism, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate population of 249 million Vurks are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 76.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Vurkian economy, worth 18.3 trillion Credits 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 Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Arms Manufacturing, and Tourism. Average income is 73,515 Credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

"Leader got your tongue?" has become a popular idiom, Max Barry is this year's Miss Vurk, the latest national park is visited by more sharks than people, and programmes of questionable content are shown at peak-hours. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Vurk's national animal is the Owl, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Vurk is ranked 136,075^th in the world and 647^th in Europe for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 698.19 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.