The Colony of Kalliope is a mammoth, safe nation, ruled by Legate Virgil Thrace with an even hand, and notable for its compulsory military service, absence of drug laws, and punitive income tax rates. The democratic, devout population of 5.304 billion Kalliopeans 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 Welfare, Spirituality, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Linus. The average income tax rate is 60.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but underdeveloped Kalliopean economy, worth 174 trillion denaris a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Basket Weaving, Tourism, and Automobile Manufacturing. Average income is 32,817 denaris, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Legate Virgil Thrace has just been declared ruler of Kalliope in an international press conference, Kalliope has designated Linus as its capital city, graverobbers claim they're acting within the interest of 'scientific preservation', and behind every great person are three dozen other people passing great memos. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Kalliope's national animal is the badger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Tellurism.

Kalliope is ranked 209,706^th in the world and 2^nd in The Congo for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -4.27 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.