The Confederacy of Elwher is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Fah Lo Suee with a fair hand, and notable for its keen interest in outer space, pith helmet sales, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless population of 15.03 billion Elwherites are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.

The minute, corrupt, pro-business government, or what there is of one, is effectively ruled by the Department of Defense, with Education and Industry also on the agenda, while Welfare and Social Policy are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Tanelorn. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Elwherian economy, worth a remarkable 6,378 trillion Gold Dragons a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Retail, Soda Sales, and Gambling. Average income is an amazing 424,413 Gold Dragons, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.7 times as much as the poorest.

New "Worker's Strike" laws set out who is allowed to strike a worker, the alarmingly racist TV show 'Bigtopians Say the Darndest Things' is a hit, businesses are abandoning the city centre because of the lack of transport connections, and polite commuters on the Tanelorn Metro always let hurried workers off the train first. Crime, especially youth-related, is so common that it is unusual to encounter someone following the law, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Elwher's national animal is the Phoorn dragon, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is None.

Elwher is ranked 18,880^th in the world and 4^th in Laissez Faireholm for Most Pro-Market, scoring 75.44 on the Rand Index.