The Sea of Silt is a titanic, orderly nation, ruled by Tithian with an iron fist, and remarkable for its fear of technology, frequent executions, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 18.04 billion Siltians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Environment, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Tyr. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 94.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Siltian economy, worth a remarkable 5,735 trillion gold pieces 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 an enormous, deeply entrenched, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Gambling, Tourism, and Retail. 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 amazing 317,948 gold pieces, with the richest citizens earning 7.5 times as much as the poorest.

Trails to natural wonders are littered with trash from reality film crews, scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes, the armed forces are locked in an expensive and bloody war abroad to stamp out possible terrorists, and the government has certified several glow-in-the-dark athletes as drug free. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive. Silt's national animal is the dragon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Defilers.

Silt is ranked 288,694^th in the world and 3^rd in Athas for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 19,076.88 Standard Monetary Units.