The Armed Republic of Ikar is a small, efficient nation, renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 29 million Ikarians are ruled with an iron fist by the corrupt, dictatorship government, which oppresses anyone who isn't on the board of a Fortune 500 company. Large corporations tend to be above the law, and use their financial clout to gain ever-increasing government benefits at the expense of the poor and unemployed.

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Public Transport. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 26.6%.

The very strong Ikarian economy, worth 1.73 trillion Ikoes a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Woodchip Exports, Automobile Manufacturing, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 59,764 Ikoes, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 184,144 per year while the poor average 14,978, a ratio of 12.3 to 1.

Returning vacationers often find that their property is now a construction site, third world countries are rich in "I Love Ikar City" t-shirts, the government only invests in infrastructure after a natural disaster, and the acceptance of acupuncture and other alternative therapies has needled the scientific community. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ikar's national animal is the Penguin, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Ikar is ranked 281,726^th in the world and 4,011^th in The North Pacific for Most Compassionate Citizens, scoring 36.69 on the Kitten Softness Rating.