The Trenchant Order of The Voltarum is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Leita O'Shea with an even hand, and remarkable for its sprawling nuclear power plants, national health service, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 49.528 billion Voltaru 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 government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ohm. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Voltaru economy, worth a remarkable 9,537 trillion volts a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Uranium Mining, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 192,558 volts, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Anti-government web sites are springing up, one tree's worth of paperwork accompanies each imported log of timber, the navy is chrome-plating its battleships to prevent rust, and Voltaru Standard Vodka is the only drink that bars stock. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Voltarum's national animal is the electric sloth, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

The Voltarum is ranked 19,915^th in the world and 12^th in Antarctica for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 310.15 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.