The Commonwealth of Provisional Ark is a massive, efficient nation, notable for its zero percent divorce rate, compulsory military service, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic population of 1.293 billion Provisional Arkians are free to succeed or fail in life on their own merits; the successful tend to enjoy an opulent (but moralistic) lifestyle, while the failures can be seen crowding out most jails.

The tiny government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Concordia. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 8.6%.

The very strong Provisional Arkian economy, worth 99.5 trillion credits a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Cheese Exports, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 76,986 credits, with the richest citizens earning 7.0 times as much as the poorest.

Artificial intelligences seeking exciting work are overcome with ennui, people are always able to look each other in the eye, the number of eyes rolled per maths lesson is increasing exponentially, and the nation's leading climatologists are investigating animal flatulence in efforts to reduce methane emissions. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, despite the fact that it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many laws. Provisional Ark's national animal is the snow leopard, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Provisional Ark is ranked 116,584^th in the world and 7^th in Stars Above for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 697.15 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.