The Ur-Quan Masters of Hesperonis is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Lord 353 with an iron fist, and notable for its strictly enforced bedtime, ubiquitous missile silos, and frequent executions. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, cheerful population of 44.221 billion Ur-Quans 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 minute, corrupt, pro-business, well-organized government, or what there is of one, is effectively ruled by the Department of Defense, with Industry also on the agenda, while Social Policy and Welfare are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Delta Crateris V. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Hesperonisian economy, worth an astonishing 28,698 trillion Sa-Matras a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Retail, Soda Sales, and Gambling. Average income is a breathtaking 648,986 Sa-Matras, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 2,789,113 per year while the poor average 96,504, a ratio of 28.9 to 1.

Sports journals are full of uplifting puff-pieces on professional boxers, the end of autumn is celebrated with a bonfire of designer bags, prisoners pray grey skies are gonna clear up, and social networking sites have discussion groups devoted to planning terrorist attacks. Crime, especially youth-related, is so common that it is unusual to encounter someone following the law, probably because of the absence of a police force. Hesperonis's national animal is the Dnyarri, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Path of Now and Forever.

Hesperonis is ranked 456^th in the world and 17^th in Lazarus for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 1,216.61 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.