The Allied States of Cendara is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by Chancellor Thomas Reed with a fair hand, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, frequent executions, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, devout population of 3.341 billion Cendarans are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.

The minute, pro-business government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Solmere. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 4.6%.

The very strong Cendaran economy, worth 270 trillion ASDS a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Gambling, Information Technology, and Soda Sales. Average income is 80,953 ASDS, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 432,572 per year while the poor average 7,947, a ratio of 54.4 to 1.

Door-to-door salesmen are frequently beaten up by 'vigilantes', commuters and their desktops both bemoan their hard drives, both criminals and civilians are DOA, and directors of low-budget sci-fi films are flocking to use Solmere as a backdrop. Crime is a problem, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Cendara's national animal is the Azure Falcon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.

Cendara is ranked 319,224^th in the world and 246^th in The League for Largest Welfare Programs, scoring -8.94 on the Safety Net Mesh Density Rating.