The Black Hole of Zarat is a titanic, efficient nation, renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and state-planned economy. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 20.899 billion Zaratians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and look forward to their next free and open election, to be held on an as-yet unannounced date.

The tiny government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Welfare, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sola. The average income tax rate is 8.4%.

The very strong Zaratian economy, worth a remarkable 1,425 trillion Coins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Woodchip Exports, and Retail. Average income is 68,198 Coins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.6 times as much as the poorest.

Soldiers are equipped with multi-million Coin battlesuits, Red Cross demand for body bags is rising while sutures go unused, Leader's peyote-induced "let's all just be friends" speech is trending world-wide, and would-be emigrants are told "abandon all hope all ye who would exit here". Crime, especially youth-related, is moderate, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Zarat's national animal is the Snek, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Zarat is ranked 99,316^th in the world and 6^th in Singapore for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 11,683.93 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.