The People's Republic of Yarkshur is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its prohibition of alcohol, fear of technology, and suspicion of poets. The democratic, devout population of 913 million Yarkshureans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Spirituality, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 70.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Yarkshurean economy, worth 4.63 trillion shards a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Basket Weaving, Pizza Delivery, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Average income is 5,076 shards, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Tuba players are paid to quietly whisper into their instruments, weekly religious services often resemble campaign rallies, overly distant dads are conscripted into national nappy service, and interviewees for teaching jobs are waterboarded to "reveal undesirable histories". Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Yarkshur's national animal is the Sperm-whale, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Yarkshur is ranked 223,385^th in the world and 26^th in United Commonwealth for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring -0.89 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.