The Armed Republic of Varnesk is a tiny, orderly nation, renowned for its compulsory military service, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The cynical population of 9 million Varneskians 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 enormous, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 70.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The struggling Varneskian economy, worth 161 billion Vareks a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Furniture Restoration, Uranium Mining, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is 17,909 Vareks, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Holy matrimony has been wedded to an unwieldy bureaucracy, the nation's infamous boot camp is more brutal than most battlefields, homeless people are periodically found dead upon altars to assorted deities, and being sent to collections is more dangerous than ever. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Varnesk's national animal is the Bear, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Varnesk is ranked 187,200^th in the world and 292^nd in Edoca for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 171.85 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.