The Colony of Lyra 018 is a mammoth, cultured nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, parental licensing program, and ban on automobiles. The compassionate, cynical population of 8.562 billion Stargazers are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 55.4%.

The thriving Lyra 018ian economy, worth 806 trillion Vegas 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 Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Basket Weaving, 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 94,188 Vegas, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.5 times as much as the poorest.

The new foreign policy is "why bother invading neighbours when they can be bought wholesale?", copies of the constitution are used as toilet paper, mining safety laws are often more expensive than what's being mined, and reassembling shredded papers is the highlight of a spy's day. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Lyra 018's national animal is the Falling Eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.

Lyra 018 is ranked 58,510^th in the world and 6^th in Common Jaguar Wilds for Nicest Citizens, with 16.66 average smiles per day.