The Democratic States of Apricot Tree is a colossal, orderly nation, renowned for its avant-garde cinema, enslaved workforce, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 3.16 billion Apricot Treeans are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The enormous, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 72.8%.

The powerhouse Apricot Treean economy, worth 222 trillion Golds a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is 70,426 Golds, with the richest citizens earning 5.3 times as much as the poorest.

Traveller camps regularly block five-lane superhighways, the armed forces are locked in an expensive and bloody war abroad to stamp out possible terrorists, the smell of tobacco is often smelt around legislative buildings across the nation, and the best defense is a good fence. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Apricot Tree's national animal is the Akita, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Apricot Tree is ranked 218,491^st in the world and 212^th in Voidwolf for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 30.22 on the Bus Surprisal Index.