The Federal Republic of Asterborne is a massive, socially progressive nation, ruled by Franz with a fair hand, and remarkable for its national health service, complete lack of prisons, and absence of drug laws. The compassionate, democratic population of 1.197 billion Asterborneans 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 medium-sized, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Northford. The average income tax rate is 74.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Asterbornean economy, worth 161 trillion dollars a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 135,116 dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Intoxicated AI mobile platforms are sometimes seen crashing through windows instead of being crashed by them, actively encouraging climate change is helping reduce winter fuel costs, throwing garbage out of your house's front window makes it legally someone else's problem, and power stations shutting down at night has made bedtime reading tricky. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Asterborne's national animal is the tamaraw, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Asterborne is ranked 24,503^rd in the world and 476^th in The East Pacific for Highest Foreign Aid Spending, scoring 1,044.68 on the Clooney Contribution Index.