The Grand Imperial Republic of Aarman is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Emperor Shane I with an even hand, and notable for its keen interest in outer space, sprawling nuclear power plants, and flagrant waste-dumping. The compassionate population of 3.362 billion Aarmanians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Shandria. The average income tax rate is 74.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Aarmanian economy, worth 189 trillion aureuses a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 56,292 aureuses, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Private pharmacies close down as medicinal drugs are given away freely by the government, the new Refuse Hills housing development is under construction, when flight control tells pilots to alter course the usual reply is "No, YOU move!", and earthquake sirens are a leading cause of hearing loss. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aarman's national animal is the sheep, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Aarman is ranked 43,655^th in the world and 85^th in The Union of Democratic States for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 165.97 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.