The Armed Republic of Nova Romulus is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, remarkable for its sprawling nuclear power plants, frequent executions, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 2.827 billion Nova Romulusians 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 large, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Administration, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 86.2%.

The frighteningly efficient Nova Romulusian economy, worth 386 trillion Lire 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 large, well-organized, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, Beef-Based Agriculture, 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 an impressive 136,795 Lire, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.9 times as much as the poorest.

Intellectual snobbery has the cognoscenti sneering at anyone who doesn't have an opinion on the semiological drift of Umberto Eco's works, employers are keenest on employees who lack family values, tradesmen will knock 10% off their fees if customers pay cash, and commuters are denied boarding for attempting to bring packed lunches onto trains. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Nova Romulus's national animal is the Eagle, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Nova Romulus is ranked 21,608^th in the world and 22^nd in Fifth Empire for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 6,858.42 on the Gilded Widget Scale.