The Empire of Vantier is a colossal, socially progressive nation, ruled by Edward Schwarzenberg with an even hand, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and vat-grown people. The hard-nosed, hard-working, humorless population of 8.778 billion Vants are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The tiny, corrupt, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ampuries. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Vantierian economy, worth a remarkable 4,014 trillion Gold Dions a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Soda Sales. Average income is an amazing 457,391 Gold Dions, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 4,262,246 per year while the poor average 4,393, a ratio of 970 to 1.

The country's famous rainforests are being bulldozed by the mining industry, both illness and poverty are seen as signs of low moral worth, construction of the Really Big Hadron Collider is underway, and the government struggles to keep up with the endless list of petrol disasters. Crime, especially youth-related, is so common that it is unusual to encounter someone following the law, probably because of the absence of a police force. Vantier's national animal is the Killer whale, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Roman Catholicism.

Vantier is ranked 2,277^th in the world and 1^st in Liberal Democratic Union for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 14,974.96 on the Gilded Widget Scale.