The Incorporated States of Vaerdus is a huge, efficient nation, renowned for its irreverence towards religion, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 688 million Vaerdians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The City of Lions. The average income tax rate is 59.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Vaerdusian economy, worth 38.6 trillion guilders a year, is quite specialized and led by the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 56,073 guilders, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Many aides in Leader's office are known to be serial jaywalkers, physics lessons mostly involve talking about emotional management techniques, the legislature keeps promising "more study" of corruption allegations against the parliamentary whip system, and movie references are legally admissible in court. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Vaerdus's national animal is the lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Vaerdus is ranked 13,955^th in the world and 597^th in The North Pacific for Most Cheerful Citizens, with 54.3 Percentage Of Water Glasses Perceived Half-Full.