The Kingdom of Vaerdon is a huge, efficient nation, notable for its parental licensing program, multi-spousal wedding ceremonies, and pith helmet sales. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 451 million Vaerdonians are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The medium-sized, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of King's Watch. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 22.1%.

The all-consuming Vaerdonian economy, worth 45.3 trillion Varens a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Retail, and Uranium Mining. Average income is an impressive 100,422 Varens, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 316,401 per year while the poor average 24,370, a ratio of 13.0 to 1.

Police drones follow every suspected Peeping Tom, trails to natural wonders are littered with trash from reality film crews, laser-wielding robots are taking aim at human hearts, and motorists must pay to enter inner-cities during peak hours. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Vaerdon's national animal is the Mighty Deer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Vaerdon is ranked 80,748^th in the world and 1^st in The Fading Lands for Most Patriotic, with 20.35 flags saluted per person per day.