The State of Zarbik is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Malino with an iron fist, and remarkable for its frequent executions, sprawling nuclear power plants, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 2.093 billion Zarbikians 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, corrupt, pro-business, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Vik Noviora. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 89.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Zarbikian economy, worth 382 trillion Atzzes a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Retail, and Book Publishing. Black market activity is frequent. Average income is an impressive 182,958 Atzzes, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 744,823 per year while the poor average 29,835, a ratio of 25.0 to 1.

Jack Russells have proven to be terrible spies, self-driving cars occasionally mow down pedestrians to avoid inconveniencing passengers, films are funded in accordance with the volume of tears shed when reading the screenplay, and children spout "Holding up the world, holding up a image" involuntarily throughout the day. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zarbik's national animal is the Beaver, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is atheism.

Zarbik is ranked 12,576^th in the world and 27^th in Institute of Cellulose for Most Advanced Law Enforcement, scoring 6,759.75 on the Orwell Orderliness Index.