The Nomadic Peoples of Swarkin is a colossal, efficient nation, renowned for its public floggings, avant-garde cinema, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 4.256 billion Swarkinians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Industry. The average income tax rate is 72.6%.

The frighteningly efficient Swarkinian economy, worth 675 trillion Golds 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, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Woodchip Exports. 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 impressive 158,671 Golds, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.5 times as much as the poorest.

Government-sponsored gallows are being erected by Violetist temples, Red Cross demand for body bags is rising while sutures go unused, old fossils give the tours at the parliamentary museum, and the "Underwear of Women in Power" issue of The Swarkin City Times is sold out. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Swarkin's national animal is the Rat, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Swarkin is ranked 3,210^th in the world and 10^th in The Rubber Room for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring 8,323.48 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.