The book takes place in the abstract “Republic of Itl” - a quasi-democratic quasi-state, one of many similar ones that the civil war gave rise to, to which the mighty Nautilia Empire sent a squadron under the command of General Orpington, holding the flag on the battleship Shameless, to help the democratic forces ".

The realities echo the various recent "democratic revolutions" a little more than completely - for example, the President of the Republic, Mr. Atkin, is diligently inventing the Order of Democratic Liberty, which has "five rays that were supposed to symbolize the five freedoms: freedom of the press, assembly, unions, conscience... and freedom in general"...