The Colony of Hives is a colossal, safe nation, renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, enslaved workforce, and frequent executions. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 4.2 billion Hivesians 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, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Law & Order, and Industry. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 44.8%.

The powerhouse Hivesian economy, worth 374 trillion dollars a year, is fairly diversified and dominated by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Gambling, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Black market activity is extensive. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 89,263 dollars, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 402,586 per year while the poor average 12,187, a ratio of 33.0 to 1.

Plain-clothes police officers follow Dàguó tourists everywhere they go, little children cry as their rainbow drawings are seized by the Straight-Thought Police, the government spends millions of dollars every year prosecuting spammers, and love is a precious butterfly to be crushed under diplomatic protocol. Crime, especially youth-related, is well under control, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hives's national animal is the horse, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Hives is ranked 69,382^nd in the world and 10^th in Playlist for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 49,273.2 Standard Monetary Units.