The Dominion of Umbraluz is a mid-sized, safe nation, renowned for its disturbing lack of elderly people, state-planned economy, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 99 million Umbrans are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 76.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Umbraluzian economy, worth 1.50 trillion Mammons 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, quite specialized black market in Beef-Based Agriculture, Door-to-door Insurance Sales, Cheese Exports, and Book Publishing. 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 15,149 Mammons, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The nation's air missiles have killed thousands of Brasilistan military personnel, diplomatic missions typically end with a flurry of childish insults, accusations and phlegm, people's charity begins and ends at home, and elite teams of assassins have been sent into Brasilistan. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Umbraluz's national animal is the Paramessium, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Umbraluz is ranked 68,685^th in the world and 3^rd in Juram for Most Cultured, scoring 69 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.