The Confederal States of Arbat is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Consul KM with an even hand, and remarkable for its anti-smoking policies, pith helmet sales, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, humorless, devout population of 28.09 billion Arbatians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The relatively small, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Elisa. The average income tax rate is 66.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Arbatian economy, worth an astonishing 14,054 trillion Aurals a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Arms Manufacturing. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is a breathtaking 500,354 Aurals, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.5 times as much as the poorest.

Community-designed sword prostheses are becoming dangerously common, the nation has declared its intention to "stretch out", colonial citizens are forced to sing the praise of the "Great Arbatian Liberator", and the government extracts trade concessions from poor nations in exchange for humanitarian aid. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, despite the fact that it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many laws. Arbat's national animal is the Dinergate, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is the Church of the Great Orrery.

Arbat is ranked 5,611^th in the world and 1^st in Slavia for Largest Populations, with 28.1 billion capita.