The Ethereal Empire of The Shadow Fold is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by Aleksander Morozova with an even hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, soft-spoken computers, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 7.248 billion Shadow Foldians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Os Alta. The average income tax rate is 98.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Shadow Foldian economy, worth a remarkable 1,359 trillion Kruges a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 187,562 Kruges, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Nude art is becoming wildly popular, a law degree is required before telling people not to drink and drive, mandatory neutering has made purebred dogs a thing of the past, and burning twigs to keep warm while lost in the wild is now a felony. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Shadow Fold's national animal is the Nichevo'ya, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

The Shadow Fold is ranked 180,589^th in the world and 120^th in The Order of the Grey Wardens for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 347.8 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.