The Armed Republic of Petroli is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Yuriy Tarasov with an iron fist, and renowned for its sprawling nuclear power plants, infamous sell-swords, and free-roaming dinosaurs. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 3.415 billion Petrolians 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 relatively small, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government prioritizes Defense, with Law & Order, Administration, and Industry also on the agenda, while Welfare and Social Policy are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Makarov Square. The average income tax rate is 48.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Petrolian economy, worth 713 trillion Petrolas 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 an enormous, deeply entrenched, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, Information Technology, and Retail. 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 an amazing 208,970 Petrolas, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.3 times as much as the poorest.

There have been sightings of people walking around dressed in nothing but leopard-skin g-strings for 'religious reasons', the stratosphere is full of "silent but deadly" attacks from Yuriy Tarasov's rear echelons, the police think a properly conducted criminal investigation is a real pain, and bars are packed at all hours. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Petroli's national animal is the Scorpion, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Chemistry.

Petroli is ranked 64,695^th in the world and 80^th in Confederation of Corrupt Dictators for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 4,732.36 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.