The Empire of Suratia is a colossal, safe nation, ruled by Moreton with an even hand, and remarkable for its fear of technology, zero percent divorce rate, and public floggings. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cheerful, devout population of 9.101 billion Suratians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The minute, moralistic government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Administration, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Surat. The average income tax rate is 1.0%.

The sizeable but stagnant Suratian economy, worth 29.7 trillion dollars a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector is mostly comprised of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 3,265 dollars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.6 times as much as the poorest.

Relatives of recent award winners find their trophies make stylish urns, Surat has restaurants serving every meat from aardvark to zebra, yoga studios are being converted into yoga research labs, and claiming to have performed the Heimlich Maneuver is a popular defense for assault charges. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Suratia's national animal is the ibis, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Christianity.

Suratia is ranked 286,698^th in the world and 27^th in Australia for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring -24.9 on the Gilded Widget Scale.