The Night-Watchman State of Barchadi is a titanic, efficient nation, ruled by Emperor Friedrich De Horche with an iron fist, and remarkable for its triple-decker prams, zero percent divorce rate, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 22.073 billion Barchadians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Danbruche. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Barchadian economy, worth a remarkable 9,556 trillion Squables 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 an enormous, deeply entrenched, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, Woodchip Exports, 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 amazing 432,949 Squables, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Requests for government aid can be forwarded to the beach, NationStates is now a popular brand of laxatives despite Max Barry's protests, shoppers have literally had their hands full since plastic bags were banned, and there is a dearth of space for new houses. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Barchadi's national animal is the Beaver, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is The Church of The True Emperor.

Barchadi is ranked 1,260^th in the world and 1^st in Knights of The Templar Order for Highest Poor Incomes, with 252,972.86 Standard Monetary Units.