The Protectorate of Spice Harvester 493 is a colossal, pleasant nation, renowned for its ubiquitous missile silos, state-planned economy, and ritual sacrifices. The hard-nosed, hard-working, humorless, devout population of 8.461 billion Spice Harvester 493ians 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 tiny, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. The average income tax rate is 9.0%.

The strong Spice Harvester 493ian economy, worth 394 trillion spices 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, quite specialized black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Soda Sales. 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 46,680 spices, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.7 times as much as the poorest.

Pet owners must make a payment if their charges leave a deposit, homeowners are evicted to make way for new runways, healthcare funding has been cut, and friendly fire incidents usually result in severe burns. Crime is a major problem. Spice Harvester 493's national animal is the sandworm, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Spice Harvester 493 is ranked 260,323^rd in the world and 1,679^th in Jihad Army of the Emperor for Most Primitive, scoring -190.72 on the Scary Big Number Scale.