The Royal States of Hardfres is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by King Aries with a fair hand, and notable for its ubiquitous missile silos, frequent executions, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, devout population of 5.913 billion Hardfresians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The large, socially-minded, outspoken government prioritizes Administration, with Education, Defense, and Industry also on the agenda. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Orington. The average income tax rate is 74.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Hardfresian economy, worth 623 trillion Hardfresian Credits 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 dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Information Technology, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 105,376 Hardfresian Credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Nation-building is the new national pastime, the Museum of Blackacrean War Crimes is located on "Blackacre Did Nothing Wrong Avenue", Blackacrean security services are wondering why King Aries is so fond of the numbers 6, 7 and 9, and cotton candy made from genuine cotton cellulose doesn't quite satisfy. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Hardfres's national animal is the Northwestern Wolf, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is State Agnosticism.

Hardfres is ranked 33,073^rd in the world and 308^th in The Communist Bloc for Most Developed, scoring 81.2 on the Human Development Index.