The Republic of Nephai is a small, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its state-planned economy, public floggings, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 36 million Nephaians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The medium-sized, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 41.5%.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Nephaian economy, worth 1.27 trillion cans a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a large, well-organized, fairly diversified black market in Information Technology, Tourism, Cheese Exports, and Basket Weaving. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 35,246 cans, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 101,855 per year while the poor average 9,673, a ratio of 10.5 to 1.

Children are regularly married to each other to secure alliances between families, serial killers who are released early distribute death but not their seed, all new "spies" are fifteen-year-old acne-ridden kids on computers, and cutting-edge missile systems are being retrofitted to twin-prop air force biplanes. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Nephai's national animal is the camel, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Nephai is ranked 280,511^th in the world and 211^th in Fifth Empire for Highest Average Incomes, with 35,246.07 Standard Monetary Units.