The Federation of Etherion Circadia is a huge, orderly nation, remarkable for its public floggings, irreverence towards religion, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 308 million Circadians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Etherion Forch. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 48.4%.

The powerhouse Circadian economy, worth 27.0 trillion Cores a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Retail. Black market activity is notable. Average income is 87,774 Cores, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 270,189 per year while the poor average 22,028, a ratio of 12.3 to 1.

People talk about things being better when men were men, the navy's new flotilla is gonna be a thrilla, glassy-eyed Circadian wives lifelessly chant "I love you" on command, and enemy agents often find themselves caught in a bind. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Etherion Circadia's national animal is the Butterfly.

Etherion Circadia is ranked 96,048^th in the world and 2,133^rd in The North Pacific for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring 2,673.54 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.