The Grand Duchy of Bans Chum is a massive, efficient nation, remarkable for its keen interest in outer space, ban on automobiles, and restrictive gun laws. The compassionate, democratic population of 3.564 billion Bans Chumians enjoy extensive civil freedoms, particularly in social issues, while business tends to be more regulated.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Badger Bay. The average income tax rate is 79.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The very strong Bans Chumian economy, worth 261 trillion marks a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is dominated by the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Pizza Delivery, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 73,478 marks, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Environmental officials dismiss uncontrolled wildfires burning down major cities as nature taking its course, it is technically inaccurate to call the dead 'worm food', the 'Museum Of Stuff We Stole' is a tourist favourite, and life-saving resuscitation is denied based on decades-old teenage diaries that declare "I want to die before I get old". Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Bans Chum's national animal is the badger, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Mustelidism.

Bans Chum is ranked 252,928^th in the world and 6,245^th in the Rejected Realms for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -7.75 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.