The Commonwealth of Arucaria is a colossal, genial nation, ruled by President James Reed with a fair hand, and remarkable for its free-roaming dinosaurs, irreverence towards religion, and suspicion of poets. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic population of 5.478 billion Arucarians live in a state of perpetual fear, as a complete breakdown of social order has led to the rise of order through biker gangs.

The relatively small, liberal, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Welfare, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Prime City. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 29.2%.

The frighteningly efficient Arucarian economy, worth a remarkable 1,165 trillion credits a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Automobile Manufacturing, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is an amazing 212,708 credits, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,111,736 per year while the poor average 21,870, a ratio of 50.8 to 1.

Takeaway food bought on the weekend now comes with fifty percent more sweat and tears, nobody looks each other in the eye at neighborhood block parties any more, cutting-edge missile systems are being retrofitted to twin-prop air force biplanes, and the army lures cannon fodder with promises of a college education. Crime is totally unknown. Arucaria's national animal is the eagle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.

Arucaria is ranked 104,704^th in the world and 2,159^th in The North Pacific for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 1,626.5 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.