The Avalon Guard of Earls is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by King Arthur with an iron fist, and renowned for its state-planned economy, compulsory military service, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-working, cynical population of 29.907 billion Earlsians 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, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Camelot. The average income tax rate is 69.4%.

The strong Earlsian economy, worth a remarkable 1,305 trillion Nickles 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 Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Arms Manufacturing, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 43,664 Nickles, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.1 times as much as the poorest.

Gun ownership is compulsory, Merlianism has been named as Earls's national religion, Earls has designated Camelot as its capital city, and King Arthur has just been declared ruler of Earls in an international press conference. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Earls's national animal is the lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Merlianism.

Earls is ranked 135,026^th in the world and 15^th in Avalon for Largest Black Market, with 1.42 trillion Standard Monetary Units.