The People's Republic of Zaeli is a huge, efficient nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service, infamous sell-swords, and irreverence towards religion. The compassionate population of 568 million Zaelians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Xerum. The average income tax rate is 74.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Zaelian economy, worth 46.9 trillion Zaelian Credits a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Trout Farming industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Average income is 82,566 Zaelian Credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Glamping Zaelians won't sleep in a tent that doesn't include a Jacuzzi, the examiners who examine examiners are being examined by examiners, Zaelian tourists are encouraged to hand out spare condoms to locals while on vacation, and burning yourself alive is not okay but starving and whipping yourself is fine. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Zaeli's national animal is the Great Zaelian Lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Zaeli is ranked 91,136^th in the world and 4,640^th in The North Pacific for Most Politically Free, scoring 64.19 on the Diebold Election Inking Scale.