The Glorious Empire of Zaelith is a titanic, orderly nation, ruled by Lexi Zaelin with an iron fist, and notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, deadly medical pandemics, and vat-grown people. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 16.06 billion Zaelithians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The tiny, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Zael. The average income tax rate is 3.1%.

The frighteningly efficient Zaelithian economy, worth a remarkable 4,707 trillion Zils 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 large, well-organized, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Retail, Information Technology, and Gambling. 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 293,124 Zils, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.1 times as much as the poorest.

Virtual assistants are seen with increasing suspicion every time they get an upgrade, retirees make up the bulk of foreign students, prison libraries are being replaced with interrogation chambers, and only AIs know why the nation is rapidly increasing its semiconductor stockpile. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Zaelith's national animal is the Roadkill, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Zaelinthia.

Zaelith is ranked 312,277^th in the world and 4,093^rd in the South Pacific for Nicest Citizens, with 0.12 average smiles per day.