The Armed Republic of The Appalachians is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Genghis Stalin with an iron fist, and notable for its lack of airports, hatred of cheese, and compulsory gun ownership. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 1.328 billion Appalachianers are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Spirituality. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Central Appalachia. The average income tax rate is 80.3%.

The Appalachian economy, worth 100 trillion Appalachian Francs a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Trout Farming. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 75,494 Appalachian Francs, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.8 times as much as the poorest.

Politicians are fired for opening subjective statements with "I believe", there's no escape from the rule of law... or police brutality, politicians literally speak literally, and boom-and-bust cycles are being peddled as economically inevitable. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Appalachians's national animal is the Monke, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Appalachian Genghinism.

The Appalachians is ranked 33,164^th in the world and 1,178^th in The North Pacific for Lowest Crime Rates, with 80.91 law-abiding acts per hour.