The Holy Empire of Valerite is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Sir Arnold the First with an iron fist, and remarkable for its frequent executions, avowedly heterosexual populace, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 1.806 billion Valeriteans 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, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of City of Valerite. The average income tax rate is 75.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Valeritean economy, worth 310 trillion Florins 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, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Tourism, and Book Publishing. 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 172,111 Florins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Children's books regularly feature formerly distressed damsels suing their princes, terrorist videos start by thanking their sponsors, at the edge of the final frontier space's biggest missile platform is about to unfold, and nature magazines featuring stick insects on their covers are sometimes mistaken for fashion magazines. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Valerite's national animal is the Whale and its national religion is Arnoldism.

Valerite is ranked 61,760^th in the world and 2,627^th in The East Pacific for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring 3,506.04 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.