The Community of Zage is a small, safe nation, notable for its punitive income tax rates, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 40 million Zages are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Administration, and Education. The average income tax rate is 69.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The basket case Zage economy, worth 516 billion Petels 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 slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Pizza Delivery, Uranium Mining, Book Publishing, and Information Technology. 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 12,894 Petels, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The Zage City XV Regiment (aka "The Goat Starers") have yet to win a battle, the countryside is shrouded by wind farms, doctors fax when they need facts fast, and colonies are told they'll get their sovereignty back when they finish supper. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zage's national animal is the Tanned Tri-headed Cow, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Zage is ranked 280,760^th in the world and 13^th in Chordis for Highest Poor Incomes, with 11,635.54 Standard Monetary Units.