The Empire of Vantier is a colossal, socially progressive nation, ruled by Edward Schwarzenberg with an even hand, and renowned for its otherworldly petting zoo, sprawling nuclear power plants, and vat-grown people. The hard-nosed, hard-working, humorless population of 8.715 billion Vants are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The tiny, corrupt, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ampuries. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Vantierian economy, worth a remarkable 3,979 trillion Gold Dions a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Soda Sales. Average income is an amazing 456,680 Gold Dions, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 4,255,619 per year while the poor average 4,386, a ratio of 970 to 1.

Homeless people can be found sleeping on streets in front of unoccupied second homes, the country behaves just like a group of independent provinces all stacked up under a trench coat, sneezing pedestrians are grabbed by alley-lurking doctors, and economists have been named Invertebrates of the Year. Crime, especially youth-related, is so common that it is unusual to encounter someone following the law, probably because of the absence of a police force. Vantier's national animal is the Killer whale, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Roman Catholicism.

Vantier is ranked 162^nd in the world and 1^st in Liberal Democratic Union for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 456,680.18 Standard Monetary Units.