The United States of Valgasia is a huge, efficient nation, renowned for its keen interest in outer space, infamous sell-swords, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed population of 341 million Valgasians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Valzglow. The average income tax rate is 44.1%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Valgasian economy, worth 33.4 trillion Valgasian Dollars a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Retail, Automobile Manufacturing, and Uranium Mining. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 97,920 Valgasian Dollars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.0 times as much as the poorest.

Returning tourists and businessmen are detained without trial if they belong to the "wrong" religion, workers of "fairweather faith" claim six months of paid leave for holy days per year, nature magazines featuring stick insects on their covers are sometimes mistaken for fashion magazines, and children grow up long before the paperwork for their lemonade stands can be sorted out. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Valgasia's national animal is the Valgasian Eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.

Valgasia is ranked 273,708^th in the world and 1,377^th in Europe for Most Beautiful Environments, with 15.48 pounds of wildlife per square mile.