The People's Republic of Zarkona is a very large, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its compulsory military service, vat-grown people, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, cynical, devout population of 394 million Zarkonans are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Esterabad. The average income tax rate is 90.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Zarkonan economy, worth 33.5 trillion dirhams 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 Information Technology, Trout Farming, Arms Manufacturing, and Tourism. 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 85,001 dirhams, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.9 times as much as the poorest.

Dandruff and athlete's foot are seen as signs of physical beauty, arguments about toilet seats being left up or down get surprisingly heated, earthquake sirens are a leading cause of hearing loss, and every new building project has to undergo a five-year environmental impact study before it can go ahead. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zarkona's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Zarkona is ranked 17,795^th in the world and 2^nd in Squeaky Squeakers for Nicest Citizens, with 23.8 average smiles per day.