The Republic of Simonel is a mammoth, safe nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, state-planned economy, and frequent executions. The hard-nosed, democratic, devout population of 7.284 billion Simonelians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Law & Order, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 49.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The large but underdeveloped Simonelian economy, worth 180 trillion dollars 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 slick, highly efficient, quite specialized black market in Trout Farming, Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, and Woodchip Exports. 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 24,729 dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Millions of simultaneously backfiring toilets have flooded Simonel City with effluent, praying before a battle is a court-martial offence, artists regularly face criminal charges and art-burning parties are common, and the nation is in perpetual campaign mode. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Simonel's national animal is the turtle, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Simonel is ranked 305,087^th in the world and 1^st in Magenta for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 12,463.64 Standard Monetary Units.