The Empire of Verconia is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Emperor Vercon with an iron fist, and remarkable for its pith helmet sales, free-roaming dinosaurs, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 1.44 billion Verconians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The medium-sized, corrupt, well-organized government prioritizes Defense, with Education, Law & Order, and Industry also on the agenda, while Spirituality and International Aid receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Veltcona. The average income tax rate is 77.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Verconian economy, worth 287 trillion vercoins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 199,417 vercoins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.4 times as much as the poorest.

There is a growing belief that consciousness is a simulated illusion within a computer-generated reality, cars have been banned, Emperor Vercon's office has a newly installed Max-Man arcade game programmed by a 5th-grader, and the police insist that racism does not exist. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Verconia's national animal is the falcon, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Verconia is ranked 9,917^th in the world and 282^nd in The East Pacific for Smartest Citizens, with 92.75 quips per hour.