The Empire of The Nex is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Joshua Graham with an iron fist, and notable for its keen interest in outer space, compulsory military service, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 3.223 billion Nexians are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The medium-sized, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The NEXUS. The average income tax rate is 74.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Nexian economy, worth 700 trillion Nexian dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a large, well-organized, broadly diversified black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Tourism. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an amazing 217,287 Nexian dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Squeaky high prepubescent voices recite the patriotic poem "Hail to The Leader!" before each meal, there has been a rapid increase of noise complaints over the sound of buzzing bees, things are looking up for patients accidentally prescribed erectile dysfunction medication, and the government spends more on chasing distant comets than on basic infrastructure. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Nex's national animal is the Lion, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is The Mormon Church of Joshua Graham.

The Nex is ranked 31,244^th in the world and 47^th in The Region That Has No Big Banks for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 5,554.06 on the Gilded Widget Scale.