The Dutch Commonwealth of Valks is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by Erasmus with an iron fist, and remarkable for its suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 19.705 billion Valksians are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The medium-sized, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Spirituality, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Hague. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 16.2%.

The very strong Valksian economy, worth a remarkable 1,087 trillion Dimes a year, is led by the Gambling industry, with major contributions from Cheese Exports, Pizza Delivery, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Average income is 55,205 Dimes, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 189,398 per year while the poor average 11,810, a ratio of 16.0 to 1.

Saying the word 'eggplant' is now a criminal offense, Humanism has been named as Valks's national religion, Erasmus has just been declared ruler of Valks in an international press conference, and Valks has designated The Hague as its capital city. Crime is a problem, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Valks's national animal is the seal and its national religion is Humanism.

Valks is ranked 133,694^th in the world and 2^nd in The Eternal Scholars for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 64.42 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.