The Empire of Garengad is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by Tsar Nicholas XIV with an iron fist, and notable for its frequent executions, national health service, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, cynical population of 22.5 billion Garengadans are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Saint Andrewsburg. The average income tax rate is 91.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The enormous but inefficient Garengadian economy, worth a remarkable 1,242 trillion Imperial Garengadan Rubles a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Automobile Manufacturing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 55,240 Imperial Garengadan Rubles, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

In life full of care there is no time to stop and stare, the Garengadian Arts Council pays teenagers to sit through opera performances, the endangered saltwater humpback Garengadan Eagle is only seen in captivity programs, and citizens with artificial limbs are forbidden to serve as beauty pageant judges. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Garengad's national animal is the Garengadan Eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Eastern Orthodox Church.

Garengad is ranked 14,767^th in the world and 1,053^rd in Lazarus for Lowest Crime Rates, with 94.45 law-abiding acts per hour.