The Republic of Norner is a mid-sized, cultured nation, remarkable for its frequent executions, complete lack of prisons, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 56 million Norners 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, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 41.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Nornen economy, worth 2.90 trillion lire 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, fairly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, Information Technology, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. 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 51,760 lire, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Lovesick people are told 'it's not them, it's you', craps take up a lot of time, the government is spending billions of lire on a fancy space probe to find a planet that may not even exist, and much of Norner's computer network is controlled by a rampant artificial intelligence. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Norner's national animal is the dove, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Norner is ranked 306,584^th in the world and 216^th in Fifth Empire for Largest Populations, with 56.0 million capita.