The Republic of Narticol is a colossal, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Julius Noyolo with an even hand, and renowned for its daily referendums, soft-spoken computers, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed population of 8.664 billion Narticolians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Noyolo's Centralised Power. The average income tax rate is 93.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Narticolian economy, worth a remarkable 1,082 trillion Pages a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 124,997 Pages, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Fancy dress parties are raided by military police for new recruits, fair-weather fans talk during plays while die-hard theatre enthusiasts stay at home, the best way to be heard in politics is to speak softly and carry a big comedy prop, and peace talks occasionally rack up a higher body count than the wars they seek to stop. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Narticol's national animal is the emu, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Narticol is ranked 250,988^th in the world and 833^rd in The Communist Bloc for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring -7.35 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.