The Empire of Vertuza is a mammoth, efficient nation, ruled by JeongJam with an iron fist, and remarkable for its compulsory military service, ubiquitous missile silos, and public floggings. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 8.837 billion Jungers are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Administration, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Xcyv. The average income tax rate is 91.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Vertuzan economy, worth a remarkable 1,770 trillion Jungs 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, fairly diversified black market in Information Technology, Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. 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 200,328 Jungs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.2 times as much as the poorest.

People with dyslexia are told to tough through it, welfare recipients frequently parlay checks into homelessness, recent converts to Frisbeetarianism are just doing it for the love of the game, and the future is monochrome. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Vertuza's national animal is the falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Vertuza is ranked 17,411^th in the world and 166^th in The North Pacific for Largest Black Market, with 217 trillion Standard Monetary Units.