The Bardic Lorekeepers of Aethelia is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by JEM with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, complete lack of prisons, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 26.355 billion Aethelians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government prioritizes Education, with Environment, Healthcare, and Welfare also on the agenda, while Spirituality and Defense receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Luna. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Aethelian economy, worth a remarkable 8,726 trillion newtons a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is an amazing 331,094 newtons, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Aethelian novella fans become unusually flustered when thinking about JEM, JEM is strangely popular with male politicians' wives, children's daycare starts at the crack of dawn, and the Treasury has been accused of flushing money down the toilet. Crime is totally unknown. Aethelia's national animal is the aurora, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Science.

Aethelia is ranked 83^rd in the world and 1^st in Middle Earth for Smartest Citizens, with 429.98 quips per hour.