The Ghastly Expanse of The Gatekeeper is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by Zuul with an iron fist, and remarkable for its frequent executions, complete lack of public education, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 27.561 billion Gatekeeperians 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 government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Spirituality. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Dana Barrett's Apartment. The average income tax rate is 96.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Gatekeeperian economy, worth a remarkable 3,739 trillion Padlocks a year, is extremely specialized and mostly made up of the Arms Manufacturing industry. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 135,667 Padlocks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.8 times as much as the poorest.

Phone taps are frequently carried out by the police, groups of government workers are declared protected tribes if they venture too deep into the Capitol, the nation's orphanages and maternity wards have been nicknamed 'the Killbot Factories', and the military's primary weapons are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and a fanatical devotion to Obedience. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. The Gatekeeper's national animal is the Terror Dog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Obedience.

The Gatekeeper is ranked 12,111^th in the world and 3^rd in The New Meritocracy for Most Patriotic, with 42.74 flags saluted per person per day.