The Merciful Harbinger of Astorian Ambis is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by Archangel Ambis with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, punitive income tax rates, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, devout population of 6.233 billion Astorian Ambisians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The enormous, moralistic, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Radiant City. The average income tax rate is 67.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Astorian Ambisian economy, worth 350 trillion Loyalties a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Cheese Exports, Automobile Manufacturing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 56,278 Loyalties, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Hordes of tourists are ruining the environment, atheistic refugees haven't got a prayer of being granted asylum, intellectual snobbery has the cognoscenti sneering at anyone who doesn't have an opinion on the semiological drift of Umberto Eco's works, and increasing inclusiveness is a sign of the times. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Astorian Ambis's national animal is the The Black Dove, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities, and its national religion is The Enlightened Order.

Astorian Ambis is ranked 94,485^th in the world and 7^th in Astoria for Most Developed, scoring 62.82 on the Human Development Index.