The Empire of Neopis is a massive, safe nation, remarkable for its prohibition of alcohol, frequent executions, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 2.781 billion Neopisians 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, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 76.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Neopisian economy, worth 161 trillion guilders 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 large, well-organized, quite specialized black market in Trout Farming, Arms Manufacturing, and Woodchip Exports. 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 58,089 guilders, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

It is mandatory for actors to exit stage left, Neopisian watches are often the only thing to survive a disaster intact, morale within the seismologist community has hit rock bottom, and attempted suicide is punishable by public hanging. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Neopis's national animal is the beaver, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Neopis is ranked 285,490^th in the world and 5,356^th in the South Pacific for Most Armed, with 0.14 weapons per person.