The Galactic Socialist Empire of The Dark Aether is a mammoth, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Kortimex Exalor SD-N with an iron fist, and remarkable for its closed borders, free-roaming dinosaurs, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 8.375 billion Aetherans 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."

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Industry, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Der Eisendrache. The average income tax rate is 94.2%.

The frighteningly efficient Aetheran economy, worth a remarkable 1,199 trillion Aetheran Marks a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Automobile Manufacturing and Information Technology. Average income is an impressive 143,232 Aetheran Marks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.8 times as much as the poorest.

The upper class have been throwing riots after hunting was recently banned, the government now pays the "Really Awesome Super Heroes" (RASH) to catch evildoers, citizens must pay to enjoy The Dark Aether's pristine beaches, and sales of superhero insurance have skyrocketed after the government abandoned the police in favor of vigilantes. Crime is all-pervasive, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. The Dark Aether's national animal is the Cosmic Fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Umbrism.

The Dark Aether is ranked 326,847^th in the world and 196^th in United Kingdom for Least Corrupt Governments, with 18.55 percentage of bribes refused.