The Empire of Avyss is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Feralan with an iron fist, and renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 2.112 billion Avyssians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The relatively small, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Euphoria. The average income tax rate is 20.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Avyssian economy, worth 242 trillion visses 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 slick, highly efficient, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Retail, and Furniture Restoration. 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 an impressive 114,653 visses, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.9 times as much as the poorest.

Cloud nine refers to the top floor of skyscrapers, an online tea-bagging epidemic is getting worse and (meta)worse, it is a silent spring in Avyss, and strange lights seen in the sky are officially regarded as weather balloons or hoaxes and nothing else. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Avyss's national animal is the dolphin, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways, and its national religion is Apostolism.

Avyss is ranked 56,537^th in the world and 2,898^th in Osiris for Largest Black Market, with 11.3 trillion Standard Monetary Units.