The Federation of Highferlia is a massive, safe nation, ruled by ShadXian with an even hand, and remarkable for its compulsory military service, smutty television, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate population of 1.809 billion Highferlians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and look forward to their next free and open election, to be held on an as-yet unannounced date.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Highest. The average income tax rate is 50.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Highferlian economy, worth 145 trillion skabelds a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 80,361 skabelds, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.0 times as much as the poorest.

Nobody looks each other in the eye at neighborhood block parties any more, property values in suburbs have nosedived after the middle class were forced to live next door to ethnic minorities, turnstile jumpers grow up to be tax cheats, and the derisively named "Morlocks of Moria" futilely demand time in the sun. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Highferlia's national animal is the eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Highferlia is ranked 34,076^th in the world and 394^th in the West Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 233.64 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.