The Archduchy of Nizhny Volga is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by Archduke Ivan IX with an iron fist, and notable for its closed borders, enslaved workforce, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 1.95 billion Nizhny Volgar are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Volgograd. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 70.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Nizhny Volgan economy, worth 338 trillion rubles a year, is fairly diversified and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, Information Technology, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 173,735 rubles, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 522,770 per year while the poor average 45,042, a ratio of 11.6 to 1.

The nation is completely gun-free, foreigners are treated with great suspicion, nursing mothers are often arrested for indecent exposure, and money grows on trees. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Nizhny Volga's national animal is the Asiatic black bear, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Arkurovism.

Nizhny Volga is ranked 42,963^rd in the world and 102^nd in Confederation of Corrupt Dictators for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 4,434.57 on the Gilded Widget Scale.