The Ongoing State of Absentia is a behemoth, cultured nation, ruled by youse with an even hand, and remarkable for its unlimited-speed roads, ubiquitous missile silos, and soft-spoken computers. The hard-nosed, humorless population of 50.708 billion Absentians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The relatively small, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Middle of Nowhere. The average income tax rate is 88.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Absentian economy, worth an astonishing 28,609 trillion ergs a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Retail. Average income is a breathtaking 564,198 ergs, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Sections of the police receive paramilitary training, no one questions why the chicken crossed the road anymore, the ABI Channel Tunnel project is plagued by delays, and frat-house partying has become the national pastime. Crime is totally unknown. Absentia's national animal is the cambot, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Absentia is ranked 263,114^th in the world and 1^st in CDW Federation for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 3,136.87 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.