The Empire of Ahartsburg is a gargantuan, genial nation, ruled by Supreme Leader Ahart with an even hand, and renowned for its smutty television, compulsory military service, and keen interest in outer space. The compassionate population of 12.944 billion Ahartsburgians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Thardan. The average income tax rate is 90.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Ahartsburgian economy, worth a remarkable 1,393 trillion Belles a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 107,622 Belles, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Dog owners proudly declare that their pups can predict when the mailman will arrive, abortions are routinely performed in the nation's hospitals, cutting-edge missile systems are being retrofitted to twin-prop air force biplanes, and a soldier's body is a temple. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Ahartsburg's national animal is the Red Tail Hawk, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Ahartism.

Ahartsburg is ranked 296,603^rd in the world and 21^st in Saeculum Obscurum for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -10.33 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.