The Commonwealth of Anaarding is a very large, socially progressive nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service and state-planned economy. The compassionate, democratic population of 370 million Anaardingians 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 large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Welfare, and Education. The average income tax rate is 47.9%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Anaardingian economy, worth 8.76 trillion holois 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 Beef-Based Agriculture industry, with major contributions from Trout Farming, Retail, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 23,664 holois, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Evenings at university debating societies often end with everyone acknowledging both sides may well be right, satellite images show safe electoral constituencies in complete darkness, newlywed misogynists complain about their wives keeping their maiden names, and domestic fishermen fly the Anaardingian flag out of fear of being blown up. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Anaarding's national animal is the gresko, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Anaarding is ranked 201,075^th in the world and 376^th in Starlight for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring zero on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.