The Abhorsen of Sabriel is a mammoth, orderly nation, ruled by King Touchstone I with an iron fist, and notable for its museums and concert halls, compulsory military service, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-working, cynical population of 5.094 billion Old Kingdom Citizens 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 medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Belisaere. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 35.3%.

The thriving from the Old Kingdom economy, worth 382 trillion silver deniers a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Basket Weaving industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Trout Farming, and Cheese Exports. Average income is 75,035 silver deniers, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 233,120 per year while the poor average 18,582, a ratio of 12.5 to 1.

Friendly fire incidents usually result in severe burns, high school boys are required to pass vigorous self-mastery and sensitivity training to graduate, prison visits increase substantially during election years, and former school buses now regularly shuttle kids to the nearest shopping centers to work. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Sabriel's national animal is the Disreputable Dog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is the Charter.

Sabriel is ranked 90,354^th in the world and 1^st in Knowhere for Most Developed, scoring 63.96 on the Human Development Index.