The Empire of Hiola is a mid-sized, orderly nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service, frequent executions, and public floggings. The cynical population of 90 million Hiolans 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, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 21.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Hiolan economy, worth 7.32 trillion Copper Coins a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Cheese Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 81,364 Copper Coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Gardeners must genetically test weeds for unique traits before digging them up, lawyers spend as much time preparing their make-up as they do their briefs, anyone can get ahead in life if they want to, and primary candidates are replaced if they fail to compliment Leader's hair. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hiola's national animal is the Hydra, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Hiola is ranked 114,238^th in the world and 88^th in Eladria for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 742.48 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.