The Watching Shadows of North Aetan is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by King Justus Ubutu with an iron fist, and renowned for its compulsory military service, ubiquitous missile silos, and frequent executions. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 31.423 billion North Aetanese are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The relatively small, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Industry, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Madre. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 16.9%.

The frighteningly efficient North Aetanian economy, worth a remarkable 5,803 trillion bloods a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Woodchip Exports. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is an impressive 184,689 bloods, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 738,391 per year while the poor average 31,036, a ratio of 23.8 to 1.

Murderers frequently escape punishment by claiming they were protecting their honour, North Aetan's army is full of two-metre tall super-soldiers, the NABI Channel Tunnel project is plagued by delays, and the government insists that bizarre Lilliputian language game shows were made domestically. Crime is a serious problem. North Aetan's national animal is the raven, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is based on law and breaking law.

North Aetan is ranked 262,864^th in the world and 7^th in Lodoss for Lowest Crime Rates, with 43.79 law-abiding acts per hour.