The Empire of Zarc is a tiny, cultured nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service, irreverence towards religion, and hatred of cheese. The hard-working, cynical population of 16 million Zarcese 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 medium-sized, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 38.7%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Zarcese economy, worth 893 billion Zarc Pounds a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Automobile Manufacturing, Pizza Delivery, and Information Technology. Average income is 55,835 Zarc Pounds, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.6 times as much as the poorest.

The nation's universities are often mistaken for foreign embassies, a child's only Trickster Night scare is the sight of their parents dancing, acknowledgement of minority groups is usually a Trojan horse, and citizens rise at daybreak every day for mandatory exercise. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zarc's national animal is the Lion, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Zarc is ranked 111,545^th in the world and 10^th in ulslo for Highest Drug Use, scoring 153.64 on the Pineapple Fondness Rating.