The Colonial Empire of Ever Shine is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Odysseus with an iron fist, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, digital currency, and ubiquitous missile silos. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 1.511 billion Ever Shineans are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Scepterford. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 50.8%.

The frighteningly efficient Ever Shinean economy, worth 275 trillion Aureuses a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Retail, and Uranium Mining. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is an impressive 182,031 Aureuses, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,326,568 per year while the poor average 7,788, a ratio of 170 to 1.

Industry tycoons rarely hide their misdeeds due to the government's habit of bailing them out, college-level writing classes are taught by undergraduate editors of the school newspaper, turning eighteen is often referred to as the 'Age of Aquarius', and foreigners are treated with great suspicion. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ever Shine's national animal is the Double Headed Eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is Christianity.

Ever Shine is ranked 284,775^th in the world and 320^th in Commonwealth of Liberty for Most Beautiful Environments, with 4.18 pounds of wildlife per square mile.