The Archduchy of Aexalla is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Archduke and Duchess José and Katherine with an iron fist, and notable for its museums and concert halls, avant-garde cinema, and smutty television. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 11.946 billion Aexallans are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, well-organized government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sanguis. The average income tax rate is 90.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Aexallish economy, worth a remarkable 1,154 trillion Drokmyns a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is extremely specialized, is mostly made up of the Gambling industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology. Average income is 96,646 Drokmyns, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.1 times as much as the poorest.

Cinemas play art-house movies to ever-shrinking audiences as film critics rule the industry, graffiti artists spend lengthy periods of time in jail, oil executives can be seen reluctantly cleaning oil-soaked birds, and children's toy tractors have been seized as state property. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aexalla's national animal is the Kodiak Bear, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is The Church of Aexalla.

Aexalla is ranked 164,350^th in the world and 35^th in Arctic for Largest Welfare Programs, scoring -19.75 on the Safety Net Mesh Density Rating.