The Luminosity of Estival is a massive, genial nation, ruled by Solstice with a fair hand, and remarkable for its sprawling nuclear power plants, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 3.652 billion Estivalians 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 enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Solunaria. The average income tax rate is 92.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Estivalian economy, worth 446 trillion Sundrops a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Information Technology. Average income is an impressive 122,398 Sundrops, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

No one is quite sure what many government officials look like, criminals and college students are taking an interest in the government's new weed-killing program, Estivalian diplomacy is by the book, and mantis shrimp studies is academia's fastest-growing field. Crime is totally unknown. Estival's national animal is the Sun Bear, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Heliolunarism.

Estival is ranked 31,743^rd in the world and 729^th in the South Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 211.25 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.