The Principality of Aethelings is a colossal, safe nation, renowned for its infamous sell-swords, compulsory military service, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 4.385 billion Aethelingsians are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Law & Order, and Defense. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 23.0%.

The strong Aethelingsian economy, worth 237 trillion Shillings a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Trout Farming, Tourism, and Gambling. Average income is 54,188 Shillings, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 154,676 per year while the poor average 15,131, a ratio of 10.2 to 1.

Aethelingsians seem to be catching more chills, dozens of viewers go online to hear whether a comma has been added to Clause 5 in Subsection B of Law 58375, schoolchildren learn an R-rated version of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", and councils up and down the country wrangle over legal matters. Crime, especially youth-related, is almost non-existent, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aethelings's national animal is the White Horse.

Aethelings is ranked 87,559^th in the world and 8^th in Singapore Indonesia Malaysia for Most Cultured, scoring 67 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.