The Federation of The Spirit of Athine is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by Carl Sagan with an iron fist, and renowned for its state-planned economy, frequent executions, and compulsory vegetarianism. The compassionate, cynical, humorless population of 42.978 billion Athineans are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sanderson Beck. The average income tax rate is 82.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Athinean economy, worth a remarkable 2,728 trillion spaceopolites 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 large, well-organized, highly specialized black market in Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Pizza Delivery. 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 63,480 spaceopolites, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.4 times as much as the poorest.

Former stunt pilots are unable to pass the licence test to fly a drone, throwing a sickie is a serious crime, urban graffiti is hand-calligraphed in perfectly kerned elegant fonts, and pet owners must make a payment if their charges leave a deposit. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Athine's national animal is the flying fox, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Jainism.

Athine is ranked 11,408^th in the world and 1^st in Peacemakers for Largest Black Market, with 432 trillion Standard Monetary Units.