The District of Aarley is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by privy council chairman with an iron fist, and renowned for its compulsory military service, absence of drug laws, and devotion to social welfare. The cynical population of 32.403 billion Aarleyians are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of District City. The average income tax rate is 76.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but stagnant Aarleyian economy, worth 267 trillion Juno aurums a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Tourism, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Book Publishing, and Trout Farming. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 8,268 Juno aurums, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Aarley is notorious for its citizens' infidelity, a large-scale revitalization of the education system is underway, Aarley has designated District City as its capital city, and Privy council chairman has just been declared ruler of Aarley in an international press conference. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aarley's national animal is the quick pink fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Aarley is ranked 191,575^th in the world and 1^st in Kingdom of the Netherlands for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring -2 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.