The People's Republic of Neu Ulm is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its irreverence towards religion, absence of drug laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, cynical population of 2.222 billion Neu Ulmians are ruled with an iron fist by the socialist government, which grants its people the freedom to do whatever they like so long as it doesn't involve getting richer than anybody else or challenging the government.

The large, liberal, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 47.5%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Neu Ulmian economy, worth 42.1 trillion Ducats a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, fairly diversified black market in Pizza Delivery, Trout Farming, Book Publishing, and Cheese Exports. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 18,947 Ducats, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A murderous reputation can revitalise a flagging celebrity career, tourists visit Neu Ulm to mass-moon Neu Ulmian politicians, terrified neighbors cower behind concertina wire and machine gun nests, and the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller. Crime is totally unknown. Neu Ulm's national animal is the Dog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Neu Ulm is ranked 155,171^st in the world and 28^th in Swabia for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 1,691.4 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.