The Most Serene Republic of Machine Belli is a very large, safe nation, renowned for its rum-swilling pirates, museums and concert halls, and keen interest in outer space. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 269 million Machine Bellians 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, well-organized government prioritizes Defense, although Law & Order, Education, and Spirituality are also considered important, while Welfare isn't funded at all. The average income tax rate is 40.1%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Machine Bellian economy, worth 20.8 trillion Belli Points 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 Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Cheese Exports. 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 77,341 Belli Points, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.1 times as much as the poorest.

Quiet professionalism has returned to the nation's armed forces, contestants on Machine Belli's Got Talent are screened by the government to make sure that they actually have talent, trains and passengers alike are often late, and the institution of marriage is held sacred and strictly enforced. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Machine Belli's national animal is the Mecha, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Machine Belli is ranked 242,203^rd in the world and 60^th in Flanelistan for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 28.73 on the Bus Surprisal Index.