The Aeronautic Commonwealth of Zheish is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Grand Duke Waryqua II Wybop with an iron fist, and remarkable for its compulsory military service, public floggings, and smutty television. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 15.598 billion Zheishians 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."

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, well-organized government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 83.9%.

The all-consuming Zheishian economy, worth a remarkable 1,084 trillion Ikalus a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is an enormous, deeply entrenched, extremely specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. State-owned companies are the norm. Average income is 69,524 Ikalus, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.5 times as much as the poorest.

International humanitarian organisations are applauding the government for ending the death penalty, asthmatics can now suffer the effects of polluting chimneys from further away than ever before, citizens are strongly encouraged to breathe less so as to limit the carbon footprint, and the nation's soldiers sleep four to a bed in order to use space economically. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zheish's national animal is the zebra, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Violetism.

Zheish is ranked 283,496^th in the world and 122^nd in Atlanticana for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring -13.19 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.