The Snekdom of Zherid is a titanic, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Snekula with an even hand, and notable for its smutty television, national health service, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless population of 11.543 billion Zheridians 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 medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Administration. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 93.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Zheridian economy, worth a remarkable 3,714 trillion Balzhes a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Retail, and Book Publishing. Average income is an amazing 321,806 Balzhes, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,006,022 per year while the poor average 78,984, a ratio of 12.7 to 1.

The new cheese tax is colloquially known as "wheel welfare", 10-year-olds who struggle with integrating by parts are considered slow learners, every spring railroad foundations erode to reveal human remains, and the Zherid Automotive Racing Series draws millions of spectators annually while those near the tracks complain about the noise. Crime is totally unknown. Zherid's national animal is the snek, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Serpentic Buddhism.

Zherid is ranked 3,755^th in the world and 2^nd in The Lunch Table for Most Cultured, scoring 186 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.