The World Government Subsidiary of Novist is a colossal, orderly nation, ruled by The Commission with an iron fist, and remarkable for its public floggings, ubiquitous missile silos, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, cynical population of 4.912 billion Novistians 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, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Hollister. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 84.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Novistian economy, worth 834 trillion Petrodollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 169,866 Petrodollars, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 589,832 per year while the poor average 35,682, a ratio of 16.5 to 1.

The nation's streets have become a winter wonderland of salt and sand, in life full of care there is no time to stop and stare, the Communist Party claims that selling things for profit isn't necessarily capitalism, and holidays are regarded as the most miserable time of the year. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Novist's national animal is the Golden Eagle, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Globalization.

Novist is ranked 6,234^th in the world and 97^th in the West Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 509.9 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.