The Protectorate of Spice Harvester 148 is a colossal, efficient nation, notable for its multi-spousal wedding ceremonies, aversion to nipples, and pith helmet sales. The hard-nosed, hard-working, humorless, devout population of 8.688 billion Spice Harvester 148ians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Education, and Administration. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 42.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Spice Harvester 148ian economy, worth a remarkable 1,040 trillion spices a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Gambling, Information Technology, and Book Publishing. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is an impressive 119,797 spices, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 571,101 per year while the poor average 14,767, a ratio of 38.7 to 1.

You can be fired for dyeing grey hairs, foreign lack of enthusiasm for Spice Harvester 148ian nose-flute disco metal is seen as a reasonable casus belli, citizens can't decide whether to be proud or horrified by the country's colonial history, and the nation has dismantled its entire WMD arsenal. Crime, especially youth-related, is relatively low, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Spice Harvester 148's national animal is the sandworm, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Spice Harvester 148 is ranked 59,466^th in the world and 993^rd in Jihad Army of the Emperor for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 126.75 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.