The People's Republic of Zarkona is a very large, genial nation, notable for its rum-swilling pirates, smutty television, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, cynical, devout population of 369 million Zarkonans 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 enormous, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Esterabad. The average income tax rate is 88.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Zarkonan economy, worth 32.2 trillion dirhams a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Trout Farming, Tourism, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is 87,228 dirhams, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.9 times as much as the poorest.

Search-and-rescue organisations are the biggest employer in the country, the pursuit of wanted criminals ends at the entrance of the pay'n'spray garage as police refuse to enter any private property, naval patrols only last nine months, and it is a common belief that a sport isn't sport if there are no decapitations. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zarkona's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Zarkona is ranked 280,382^nd in the world and 189^th in Squeaky Squeakers for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 2,211.11 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.