The Republic of Westerliez is a huge, safe nation, renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, irreverence towards religion, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 736 million Westerliezians 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 Healthcare, Defense, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 25.4%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Westerliezian economy, worth 36.8 trillion guilders a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Furniture Restoration, Cheese Exports, and Gambling. Average income is 49,967 guilders, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.0 times as much as the poorest.

A video of Leader wearing shock-blue face paint and smashing an electric guitar in front of a frenzied crowd is on endless repeat on the nightly news, the government has declared that sharing is uncaring, counselors have to sign pledges supporting gay rights before they can speak to any patients, and scaffolding is built around scaffolding to give safe access. Crime, especially youth-related, is relatively low, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Westerliez's national animal is the crocodile, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Westerliez is ranked 196,044^th in the world and 101^st in Realm of the Whispering Winds for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 43.59 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.