The Allied States of Ulm 88 is a massive, safe nation, renowned for its keen interest in outer space, zero percent divorce rate, and compulsory gun ownership. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 1.858 billion Ulm 88ians 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 medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 70.9%.

The frighteningly efficient Ulm 88ian economy, worth 248 trillion deniers a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Tourism, and Automobile Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 133,950 deniers, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 396,516 per year while the poor average 35,542, a ratio of 11.2 to 1.

Army rations are served on silver platters, military officers are given medals for disobeying orders, only toddlers and the elderly watch television before 23:00, and diplomats miss flights while wandering Ulm 88 City Airport's endless art maze. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ulm 88's national animal is the tiger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ulm 88 is ranked 29,169^th in the world and 178^th in Swabian autonomous region for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 28,020.42 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.