The Empire of Laurendon is a titanic, genial nation, ruled by Chancellor Philippa Lawson with an even hand, and remarkable for its pith helmet sales, sprawling nuclear power plants, and irreverence towards religion. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic, cheerful population of 12.857 billion Laurendonians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The relatively small, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Carsen. The average income tax rate is 42.7%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Laurendonian economy, worth a remarkable 2,467 trillion Laurons a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Retail, Information Technology, and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 191,925 Laurons, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.2 times as much as the poorest.

A sincere statement of belief can get you out of anything, college students make ends meet by selling their kidneys, trolls insist that strings of racial slurs mean "good morning" in obscure languages, and schoolkids are often mistaken for fast food workers. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Laurendon's national animal is the Lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Christianity.

Laurendon is ranked 92,146^th in the world and 1,352^nd in The North Pacific for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 2,539.8 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.