The Federation of Etherion Circadia is a very large, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its frequent executions, compulsory military service, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 194 million Circadians 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 large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 59.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Circadian economy, worth 10.7 trillion Cores a year, is dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Retail. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 55,375 Cores, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

The nation is renowned abroad for its love of blood and guts, air purifiers fight smoke machines on Circadian stage setups, the secret service is working overtime to find anyone publishing unauthorized material about Leader, and fearful citizens watch their every move as does their government. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Etherion Circadia's national animal is the Butterfly, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Etherion Circadia is ranked 281,544^th in the world and 6,234^th in The North Pacific for Most Cultured, scoring 51 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.