The Empire of Asteryn is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its irreverence towards religion and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 263 million Asterynians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 35.5%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Asterynian economy, worth 10.2 trillion Spexes a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Woodchip Exports, Tourism, and Cheese Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 38,964 Spexes, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.0 times as much as the poorest.

Extreme hiring regulations mean a job in Asteryn is often a lifetime appointment, every week is blindness awareness week, traffic cops spend most of their work-hours calculating citizens' monthly income, and Occam's razor has sliced to pieces any childhood belief in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Asteryn's national animal is the bee, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Asteryn is ranked 93,864^th in the world and 4,702^nd in Lazarus for Most Cultured, scoring 67 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.