The Empire of House Tarkin is a huge, cultured nation, ruled by Emperor Tarkin with an iron fist, and notable for its rum-swilling pirates, frequent executions, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 764 million House Tarkinians 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 large, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Eriadu City. The average income tax rate is 57.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The House Tarkinian economy, worth 46.2 trillion Credits a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Furniture Restoration. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 60,532 Credits, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.1 times as much as the poorest.

Contestants on House Tarkin's Got Talent are screened by the government to make sure that they actually have talent, panicking criminals no longer flush contraband down the toilet, whenever pilots have to bail out the government bails out their company, and Emperor Tarkin has been known to threaten dissenting citizens with a machine gun at press conferences. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. House Tarkin's national animal is the Falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

House Tarkin is ranked 103,070^th in the world and 103^rd in Fifth Empire for Largest Black Market, with 2.35 trillion Standard Monetary Units.