The Queen's State of Xylone is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic population of 31.901 billion Xyloneans hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The relatively small, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 11.8%.

The strong Xylonean economy, worth a remarkable 1,141 trillion betales a year, is quite specialized and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Retail, and Information Technology. Average income is 35,786 betales, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.4 times as much as the poorest.

The government is avowedly atheist, surveillance cameras are banned, graffiti graces every city's streets, and the tenet of free speech is held dear. Crime, especially youth-related, is moderate. Xylone's national animal is the deer, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Xylone is ranked 176,180^th in the world and 1^st in the Republic of Armenia for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 64.58 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.