The Empire of Rubert is a tiny, safe nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, punitive income tax rates, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 8 million Rubertians 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."

The enormous, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. The average income tax rate is 55.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Rubertian economy, worth 332 billion cosmic fragments a year, is fairly diversified and dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Woodchip Exports, Cheese Exports, and Trout Farming. Average income is 41,585 cosmic fragments, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.6 times as much as the poorest.

Citizens select which government department gets their income tax cosmic fragments each year, extreme political groups are outlawed, no one born in Rubert can fix a leaky faucet, and parents are fined for sending their children to take out the trash after sunset. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Rubert's national animal is the Irontomb, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Rubert is ranked 223,203^rd in the world and 75^th in Xianzhou Alliance for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -4 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.