The Empire of Artaire is a colossal, orderly nation, renowned for its irreverence towards religion, absence of drug laws, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 5.745 billion Artaireans enjoy great individual freedoms in everything except elections, which, where they exist at all, are populist shams for a dictatorship government that has no intention of ever giving up power.

The minute, liberal, pro-business government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Industry. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 4.7%.

The strong Artairean economy, worth 328 trillion betales a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Basket Weaving, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 57,238 betales, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 368,909 per year while the poor average 3,588, a ratio of 102 to 1.

Scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, and glamping Artaireans won't sleep in a tent that doesn't include a Jacuzzi. Crime is a major problem, probably because of the absence of a police force. Artaire's national animal is the deer, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Artaire is ranked 100,866^th in the world and 4^th in Isle of Man for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 2,088.42 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.