The Lush Land of Astrobiblia is a gargantuan, genial nation, ruled by Indigo Andromeda with a fair hand, and notable for its daily referendums, keen interest in outer space, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 13.294 billion Astrobiblians 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 government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, liberal, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Spirithollow Coast. The average income tax rate is 91.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Astrobiblian economy, worth a remarkable 1,047 trillion sterlings a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology and Basket Weaving. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 78,817 sterlings, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Airport announcements inform passengers that flights have been delayed because pilots are having afternoon naps, surprising numbers of poor people are protesting against taxing the rich, selling your granddad's clothes requires an incredible amount of paperwork, and intellectual snobbery has the cognoscenti sneering at anyone who doesn't have an opinion on the semiological drift of Umberto Eco's works. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Astrobiblia's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Astrobiblia is ranked 5,700^th in the world and 295^th in Balder for Safest, scoring 129.17 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.