The Democratic Republic of The Apostate Convent is a huge, cultured nation, remarkable for its parental licensing program, public floggings, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 292 million Apostates enjoy great social freedoms and frequent elections, where the majority of the populace regularly votes to increase its benefits at the expense of various hapless minorities.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Alpine Convent. The average income tax rate is 76.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Apostate Conventian economy, worth 8.25 trillion francs 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 Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 28,264 francs, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Fair-weather fans talk during plays while die-hard theatre enthusiasts stay at home, The Apostate Convent has designated Alpine Convent as its capital city, shanty towns are forming in the suburbs of major cities, and employers are finding it hard to screen candidates now that everyone gets A grades in their exams. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Apostate Convent's national animal is the fox, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

The Apostate Convent is ranked 140,100^th in the world and 4^th in Defense League of Militant Convents for Most Advanced Defense Forces, scoring 1,632.23 on the Total War Preparedness Rating.