The Most Serene Republic of Arzenne is a massive, socially progressive nation, ruled by The Quietude with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, smutty television, and state-planned economy. The compassionate, democratic, devout population of 1.807 billion Arzenneans 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 government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded, outspoken morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Friendship City. The average income tax rate is 86.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Arzennean economy, worth 117 trillion value chakras a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Retail, Beef-Based Agriculture, and Tourism. Average income is 64,854 value chakras, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Dictators have dubbed Arzenne the land of lunatics, turning the other cheek is accompanied by a polite letter of complaint, the nation was recently voted "most likely to betray its allies", and the government is spending serious cheddar protecting sewer rats. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Arzenne's national animal is the bonobo, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Universal Zennism.

Arzenne is ranked 251,440^th in the world and 494^th in Starlight for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 25.5 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.