The Empire of Northern Cyrus is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Chief Executive Collin with an even hand, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, parental licensing program, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, humorless population of 1.966 billion Northern Cyrusians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Healthcare, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Wichtiger Platz. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 23.9%.

The powerhouse Northern Cyrusian economy, worth 171 trillion Gold Points a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Gambling, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, and Uranium Mining. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 87,036 Gold Points, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 289,687 per year while the poor average 19,485, a ratio of 14.9 to 1.

The nation's government buildings are remarkable for being ugly concrete boxes, the term cold case has taken on a very literal meaning, the government has begun breaking all large businesses into thousands of mom-and-pop general stores, and travellers are often forcibly evicted by torch-bearing mobs. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Northern Cyrus's national animal is the White Hawk, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities, and its national religion is Atheism.

Northern Cyrus is ranked 50,105^th in the world and 57^th in Concord for Most Patriotic, with 33.4 flags saluted per person per day.