The Federal Republic of Arboresia is a massive, genial nation, ruled by Sydney Martin with a fair hand, and remarkable for its daily referendums, absence of drug laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 1.043 billion Arboresians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The medium-sized, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Luxen. The average income tax rate is 37.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong Arboresian economy, worth 58.7 trillion Mackans a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 56,259 Mackans, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The election for Sydney Martin's office's janitor is heating up, the weather report is the prisoners' favourite programme, airport announcements inform passengers that flights have been delayed because pilots are having afternoon naps, and the government has declined to declare any particular religion as its 'official' one. Crime is totally unknown. Arboresia's national animal is the Caribou, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is No Official Religion.

Arboresia is ranked 74,371^st in the world and 4,175^th in Lazarus for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 104.16 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.