The Republic of The Shadows 53 is a massive, efficient nation, notable for its absence of drug laws and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-working, cynical population of 2.027 billion Shadows 53ians enjoy great individual freedoms in everything except elections, which, where they exist at all, are populist shams for a dictatorship government that has no intention of ever giving up power.

The tiny, liberal, pro-business, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Welfare. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 7.7%.

The very strong Shadows 53ian economy, worth 126 trillion rubledollars a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Gambling industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Basket Weaving, and Retail. Average income is 62,200 rubledollars, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 252,194 per year while the poor average 10,212, a ratio of 24.7 to 1.

Crime is a serious problem. The Shadows 53's national animal is the hawk, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities.

The Shadows 53 is ranked 261,640^th in the world and 1^st in Beatriz for Lowest Crime Rates, with 44.87 law-abiding acts per hour.