The Empire of Ardretia is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its vat-grown people, free-roaming dinosaurs, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 284 million Ardretians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Eldia. The average income tax rate is 79.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Ardretian economy, worth 17.4 trillion dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing and Furniture Restoration. Average income is 61,313 dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Pre-takeoff checks last longer than the flights themselves, local mafias have a tough time disposing of dead snitches without catching the attention of recycling authorities, vital intelligence-gathering activities are often put on hold for Call of Honor tournaments, and government agents scour baking periodicals for subversive recipes. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ardretia's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ardretia is ranked 181,425^th in the world and 7,898^th in The North Pacific for Most Primitive, scoring -187.94 on the Scary Big Number Scale.