The Commonwealth of Astra Prime is a titanic, efficient nation, ruled by Lance Hornsby with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, deadly medical pandemics, and smutty television. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 11.428 billion Astrans are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The relatively small, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Alexandria. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 1.1%.

The frighteningly efficient Astra Primean economy, worth a remarkable 4,057 trillion gold coins a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, and Soda Sales. Black market activity is frequent. Average income is an amazing 355,035 gold coins, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,339,392 per year while the poor average 65,551, a ratio of 20.4 to 1.

Soldiers are "encouraged" to advance by armed officers behind them, kids building model rockets in their backyard are grounded by Space Agency Rangers, families consisting of more than three people are forced to split up, and you're never too young to learn how to lie with confidence. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Astra Prime's national animal is the sea dragon, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Talos.

Astra Prime is ranked 1,714^th in the world and 30^th in the West Pacific for Most Cultured, scoring 285 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.