The People's Federation of Parieta is a very large, socially progressive nation, ruled by the Federal Executive Council with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, irreverence towards religion, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 463 million Parietans, 441 million of whom are zombies, love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Wabakin. The average income tax rate is 77.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Parietan economy, worth 48.9 trillion credits a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Average income is 32,877 credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The black market offers sweet deals, it is illegal to distribute Girl Guide Cookies without an advanced food hygiene diploma, captains must wait until all rats are safe before jumping ship, and would-be emigrants are told "abandon all hope all ye who would exit here". Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Parieta's national animal is the cinnabar moth, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is the Church of Infinity.

Parieta is ranked 17,606^th in the world and 368^th in the South Pacific for Highest Foreign Aid Spending, scoring 1,297.64 on the Clooney Contribution Index.