The Federal Republic of Archus is a large, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its frequent executions, avant-garde cinema, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 67 million Arches have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 25.2%.

The strong Archusian economy, worth 4.08 trillion Arch Units a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Cheese Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 60,956 Arch Units, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.9 times as much as the poorest.

Cricket farmers use magnifying glasses to fit every member of their herd with tiny tracking tags, mystics are claiming that a simultaneous rise in scepticism and education budgets is correlation rather than causation, a niche industry catering to S&M enthusiasts has sprung up, and government theft from poor artists to give to rich allies has been dubbed the "reverse Robin Hood" policy. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Archus's national animal is the Luca cell, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Archus is ranked 212,846^th in the world and 170^th in Karma for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -3.07 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.