The Empire of THE Ash is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its daily referendums, fear of technology, and restrictive gun laws. The devout population of 658 million Ashians are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The large, moralistic government prioritizes Administration, although Law & Order, Defense, and Education are also considered important. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ashgabat. The average income tax rate is 57.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Ashian economy, worth 43.7 trillion Dirhams a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, broadly diversified black market in Information Technology, Uranium Mining, Tourism, and Furniture Restoration. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 66,371 Dirhams, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Newborns are being raised as mindless killing machines, international collectors know that a grease-stain on a work of art probably means it's passed through THE Ash, a National Academy regulates grammar and usage, and the regional delicacy of chocolate bombes is deadlier than an unexploded bomb. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. THE Ash's national animal is the Cat 🐈⬛️, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

THE Ash is ranked 82,073^rd in the world and 1^st in Olympiana for Most Advanced Law Enforcement, scoring 3,436.02 on the Orwell Orderliness Index.