The Kingdom of Afria Thebel is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Franciotto Orsini with an iron fist, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, otherworldly petting zoo, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 3.427 billion Afria Thebelians 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 medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bawshar. The average income tax rate is 70.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Afria Thebelian economy, worth a remarkable 1,147 trillion dollars a year, is broadly diversified and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Tourism, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an amazing 334,807 dollars, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

Tower block residents are each held responsible for four square inches of front lawn, government agents stalk the aisles of grocery stores for out-of-stock medications, the Foreign Ministry thinks an eye for an eye is a blindingly good idea, and the family summer vacation has become a thing of the past following the introduction of the year-round school year. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Afria Thebel's national animal is the falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Western Rite Orthodoxy.

Afria Thebel is ranked 4,726^th in the world and 122^nd in the South Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 578.76 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.