The Holy Empire of Xephonia is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Beppa with an iron fist, and remarkable for its public floggings, ubiquitous missile silos, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 14.939 billion Ducks are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Mallard City. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 61.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Xephonian economy, worth a remarkable 1,944 trillion Duck Pence a year, is broadly diversified and dominated by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Retail, and Woodchip Exports. Black market activity is extensive. Average income is an impressive 130,175 Duck Pence, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,054,326 per year while the poor average 3,583, a ratio of 294 to 1.

Proper policy proposals prerequire professional peer-reviewed papers, public shaming has become the favoured form of punishment, the banhammer is a standard police sidearm, and a typical peasant's life cycle leads from birth to the gallows. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Xephonia's national animal is the Duck, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is Duck worship.

Xephonia is ranked 21,968^th in the world and 1,489^th in Balder for Most Corrupt Governments, with 93.63 kickbacks per hour.