The Imperial Vicariate of Arleat is a huge, genial nation, renowned for its pith helmet sales, state-planned economy, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 569 million Arleats are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nancy. The average income tax rate is 76.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Arlesian economy, worth 58.9 trillion Guilders a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is fairly diversified, is led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Automobile Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 103,520 Guilders, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Sniffer dogs are trained to follow clouds of fruity-smelling vapor, police officers that upset their bosses get assigned to 24 hour stakeouts of bike sheds, ministers browse Alright! magazine for fashion tips, and the government loves seeing the little people fight. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Arleat's national animal is the lion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Arleat is ranked 15,811^th in the world and 415^th in The East Pacific for Highest Food Quality, scoring 131.78 on the Meeshlin-Starr Index.