The Free State of Eli is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Eli Hutton with an even hand, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, deadly medical pandemics, and national health service. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 42.948 billion Elians are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The minute, pro-business government, or what there is of one, is solely concerned with Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Eli City. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Elian economy, worth a remarkable 9,503 trillion New Merits a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Uranium Mining, and Pizza Delivery. Average income is an amazing 221,284 New Merits, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,047,140 per year while the poor average 27,660, a ratio of 37.9 to 1.

Journalists often nap through tedious police press briefings, women don't report crimes to the emergency services for fear of being arrested, fruit vendors are encouraging a life of crime in their advertising, and on streets of broken glass people are being murdered for their faith. Crime is all-pervasive, probably because of the absence of a police force. Eli's national animal is the squirrel, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Eli is God.

Eli is ranked 10,766^th in the world and 184^th in the West Pacific for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 8,642.65 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.