The Republic of Starlight Ceres is a massive, orderly nation, remarkable for its public floggings, disturbing lack of elderly people, and enslaved workforce. The compassionate, cynical, devout population of 2.323 billion Starlight Ceresians are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 56.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Starlight Ceresian economy, worth 244 trillion lotuses 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 slick, highly efficient black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, and Beef-Based Agriculture. 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 an impressive 105,059 lotuses, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

Structures are raised on promises, nobody is allowed to stop the local daycare from reading Nietzsche to pre-schoolers, glamping Starlight Ceresians won't sleep in a tent that doesn't include a Jacuzzi, and public projects are synonymous with yawn-inducing conformity. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Starlight Ceres's national animal is the moonlark, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Starlight Ceres is ranked 87,950^th in the world and 708^th in eta for Largest Welfare Programs, scoring 1,536.06 on the Safety Net Mesh Density Rating.