The Galactic Empire of Astralumina is a mammoth, efficient nation, ruled by Emperor Uriel Maximus with an iron fist, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and absence of drug laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 5.793 billion Astreans enjoy great individual freedoms in everything except elections, which, where they exist at all, are populist shams for a dictatorship government that has no intention of ever giving up power.

The relatively small, liberal, pro-business, well-organized government prioritizes Industry, with Law & Order, Defense, and Education also on the agenda, while Spirituality and International Aid aren't funded at all. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Empyrean Crest. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 11.5%.

The all-consuming Astrean economy, worth 377 trillion Galactic Credits a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Retail, Uranium Mining, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is 65,092 Galactic Credits, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 195,495 per year while the poor average 16,920, a ratio of 11.6 to 1.

Glittering new sports stadiums adorn every city and town, a driving license is obtained not by passing a test but by passing a brown envelope, foreign leaders with unpaid parking tickets are often refused entry, and former arsonists can be found on local fire brigades. Crime is a major problem. Astralumina's national animal is the Astrean Phoenix, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution, and its national religion is Christianity.

Astralumina is ranked 223,573^rd in the world and 6^th in The Celestial Archipelago for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring -3.26 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.