The Principality of Aesode is a large, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its irreverence towards religion, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 123 million Aesodeans are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 71.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Aesodean economy, worth 2.30 trillion planets 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 led by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Pizza Delivery, and Furniture Restoration. Average income is 18,733 planets, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Pulling weeds is seen as a threat to national security, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, the nation's official head of religious affairs is an atheist, and euthanasia is legal. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aesode's national animal is the Kronfal, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Aesode is ranked 77,790^th in the world and 163^rd in Refugia for Most Cultured, scoring 68 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.