The Socialist Federal Republic of Aqual is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Don Quijote with a fair hand, and remarkable for its national health service, punitive income tax rates, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 10.109 billion Aqualias are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, liberal, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Toboso. The average income tax rate is 95.7%.

The very strong Aqualian economy, worth 920 trillion Quels a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is solely comprised of the Book Publishing industry. Average income is 91,009 Quels, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Visiting dignitaries often end up cuddling in the hot tub with Don Quijote, would-be emigrants are told "abandon all hope all ye who would exit here", the mood of raunchy movies is often ruined by the sound of babies crying, and sales of disinfectant wipes have skyrocketed. Crime is totally unknown. Aqual's national animal is the Frog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Aqual is ranked 284,072^nd in the world and 10,670^th in Osiris for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring -147.18 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.