The Starched White Laundry Smell of Afresh is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Freshie Fresh with an even hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, national health service, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, cynical, devout population of 27.498 billion Afreshians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and look forward to their next free and open election, to be held on an as-yet unannounced date.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Shimmer. The average income tax rate is 88.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Afreshian economy, worth a remarkable 1,915 trillion freshies a year, is highly specialized and led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 69,672 freshies, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Swings are banned for being a danger to children, old dogs don't have to learn new tricks but they have to prove they haven't forgotten old ones, mandatory state-funded classes teach Libertarianism, and children often kick dingoes for amusement. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. Afresh's national animal is the dingo, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Cleaning.

Afresh is ranked 286,913^th in the world and 13^th in Key Results Union for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 22.12 on the Bus Surprisal Index.