The Free Land of Alrest is a massive, genial nation, notable for its parental licensing program, anti-smoking policies, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 1.716 billion Alrestians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 66.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Alrestian economy, worth 123 trillion Bits a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 71,975 Bits, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The endangered saltwater humpback Blade is only seen in captivity programs, the government has declined to declare any particular religion as its 'official' one, relations with Dàguó have warmed from frosty to chilly, and it is believed that belligerence is a passing phase foreign leaders will soon outgrow. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Alrest's national animal is the Blade, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Alrest is ranked 279,258^th in the world and 69^th in Colonia Apollonis for Most Patriotic, with 2.04 flags saluted per person per day.