The Crowned Sands of Ataraesh is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Lea'ra Vedras with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, anti-smoking policies, and frequent executions. The compassionate, democratic, devout population of 1.506 billion Ataraeshi are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Spirituality. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ceyra. The average income tax rate is 67.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Ataraeshic economy, worth 93.5 trillion Gold Suns a year, is quite specialized and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Information Technology, and Arms Manufacturing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 62,057 Gold Suns, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Chekhov's guns are killing the entertainment budget, the "war on terror" doesn't seem to be making Ataraeshi any less frightened, prodigal children celebrate as charitable bequests plummet, and international tensions are high as Ataraesh threatens any government with the audacity to arrest its citizens. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ataraesh's national animal is the Ashmane Courser, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is The Faith of the First Sun.

Ataraesh is ranked 14,368^th in the world and 2^nd in Ainur for Nicest Citizens, with 25.91 average smiles per day.