The Free Market Empire of Zerni is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by Emperor Mishami with an iron fist, and remarkable for its rum-swilling pirates, compulsory military service, and keen interest in outer space. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 30.416 billion Zernians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The tiny, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Zerni City. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Zernian economy, worth an astonishing 13,045 trillion Credits a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Uranium Mining. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an amazing 428,889 Credits, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.0 times as much as the poorest.

Movie producers send film critics wads of cash in their morning newspapers in anticipation of gushing praise, no one cares when it's your birthday, asthmatics can now suffer the effects of polluting chimneys from further away than ever before, and consumers are free to choose - so long as they choose Eckie-Ecola or Eckie-Cola. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, despite the fact that it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many laws. Zerni's national animal is the silver lynx, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is shinto.

Zerni is ranked 14,859^th in the world and 3^rd in Zernxi Sector for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 8,257.15 on the Gilded Widget Scale.