The Colony of Lyre is a small, genial nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate population of 26 million Lyreans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The medium-sized, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Healthcare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 36.1%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The weak Lyrean economy, worth 939 billion Harps a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Uranium Mining, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 36,119 Harps, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Administrative districts are increasingly defined by their taste in housing architecture, the economy is green and the air is black, the comic book series 'Leader and the Villainous Corporate Cronies' is a best-seller, and RPG fans reminisce fondly about when people thought they were evil and dangerous rather than geeky and socially inept. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Lyre's national animal is the Narwhal, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Lyre is ranked 133,175^th in the world and 2,274^th in The North Pacific for Highest Average Tax Rates, with 36.14 Effective Tax Rate.