The Federation of Northern Socialist States is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Wilhelm von Potestas with an even hand, and remarkable for its anti-smoking policies, ubiquitous missile silos, and daily referendums. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 16.869 billion NSS Citizens are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Potestas. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient NSS Citizenry economy, worth a remarkable 7,160 trillion Federation Credits 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 significant contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is an amazing 424,497 Federation Credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Northern Socialist States is increasingly belligerent on the international stage, any secret that gets off someone's chest is promptly replaced, a faint smell of body odour can be detected at several miles' distance from the National Science Park, and citizens can only enjoy the splendor of the natural world in designated 'Majesty Appreciation' zones. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Northern Socialist States's national animal is the Swan, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Kostromaism.

Northern Socialist States is ranked 290,911^th in the world and 1,442^nd in Europe for Most Corrupt Governments, with 0.16 kickbacks per hour.