The Peaceful Union of Ashtie is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Lady Aria Latriva with an iron fist, and renowned for its public floggings, sprawling nuclear power plants, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 14 billion Ashtieans are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ashtide. The average income tax rate is 83.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Ashtiean economy, worth 950 trillion Rubies a year, is highly specialized and led by the Pizza Delivery industry, with major contributions from Furniture Restoration, Arms Manufacturing, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 67,912 Rubies, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Cash-strapped junkies lick rabbits for a cheap high, it is illegal to distribute Girl Guide Cookies without an advanced food hygiene diploma, dubiously qualified Skandilundian barristers keep referring to laws as 'government guidelines', and doctors prescribe medicines but they rarely dispense hope or compassion. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ashtie's national animal is the Saint Bernard, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Spiritualism.

Ashtie is ranked 36,454^th in the world and 16^th in The Labyrinth for Lowest Crime Rates, with 79.26 law-abiding acts per hour.