The Ongoing State of Absentia is a behemoth, safe nation, ruled by youse with an even hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, smutty television, and public floggings. The hard-nosed, humorless population of 50.767 billion Absentians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The relatively small, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Middle of Nowhere. The average income tax rate is 88.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Absentian economy, worth an astonishing 28,641 trillion ergs a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Retail. Average income is a breathtaking 564,172 ergs, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Undersea volcanoes receive strongly worded letters for violating environmental regulations, political candidates who don't release their birth certificates are presumed to have been born in Maxtopia, courses on ornithology and apiology are surprisingly popular, and the black market offers sweet deals. Crime is totally unknown. Absentia's national animal is the cambot, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Absentia is ranked 735^th in the world and 1^st in CDW Federation for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 43,714.84 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.