The IxProtectorate of Darklander is a colossal, efficient nation, remarkable for its free-roaming dinosaurs, smutty television, and suspicion of poets. The compassionate, cynical, devout population of 2.643 billion Darklanderians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Norftek Norfdome. The average income tax rate is 43.5%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Darklanderian economy, worth 312 trillion Norftek Petro Dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, broadly diversified black market in Tourism, Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 118,124 Norftek Petro Dollars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.9 times as much as the poorest.

More sidewalk is dedicated to animals than people, foreign musicians that Leader dislikes are turned away at the border, the weather report is the prisoners' favourite programme, and giggling teens are asked to put their mouths on rubber dolls. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Darklander's national animal is the Whipping Spelf, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Darklander is ranked 38,309^th in the world and 1^st in The Darklands for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 217.77 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.