The Aderan Republic of Acroticus is a titanic, efficient nation, ruled by Praetor Arriston Andros with an even hand, and remarkable for its rum-swilling pirates, compulsory military service, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless population of 24.728 billion Acroticians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Therinia. The average income tax rate is 94.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Acroticusian economy, worth a remarkable 5,341 trillion Ialiras a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, and Book Publishing. Average income is an amazing 215,993 Ialiras, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.2 times as much as the poorest.

The phrase 'spreading like wildfire' is no longer in the public lexicon, the standard police uniform now comes with several colours of belt, trolls insist that strings of racial slurs mean "good morning" in obscure languages, and punting clubs and posh accents have been added to the national curriculum. Crime is totally unknown. Acroticus's national animal is the Zaire Tiger, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Acroticus is ranked 159,113^th in the world and 12^th in The Commonwealth Society for Largest Black Market, with 996 billion Standard Monetary Units.