The Unseelie Queendom of Blackpond is a mammoth, orderly nation, ruled by Quintessa Blackwell with an iron fist, and remarkable for its ritual sacrifices, absence of drug laws, and compulsory gun ownership. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 9.479 billion Vailkrinese are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government.

The medium-sized, corrupt, liberal, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Castle Blackwell. The average income tax rate is 90.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Vailkrinese economy, worth a remarkable 3,841 trillion gold coins 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, fairly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Tourism, and Soda 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 an amazing 405,251 gold coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The military is recruiting war criminals to join its weapons research teams, the world still seems flat to some people in space, stranded mountaineers can watch livestreamed footage of their rescues, and park rangers struggle to deal with a rash of stolen pic-a-nic baskets. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Blackpond's national animal is the Blackwell viper, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is the Cult of the Coiled.

Blackpond is ranked 9,454^th in the world and 3^rd in Swallowtail for Highest Average Tax Rates, with 90.58 Effective Tax Rate.