The State of Sylvan Beach is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by the Governor with an iron fist, and renowned for its frequent executions, punitive income tax rates, and restrictive gun laws. The cynical population of 43.388 billion Sylvan Beach Bumbs are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized morass — juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Social Policy. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Capital Heights. The average income tax rate is 76.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but stagnant Sylvan Beachian economy, worth 496 trillion betales 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 mostly made up of the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Trout Farming, Information Technology, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 11,450 betales, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Army rations are served on silver platters, the government has started a campaign to crack down on road rage and encourage alternate means of commuting, Sylvan Beach has designated Capital Heights as its capital city, and The Governor has just been declared ruler of Sylvan Beach in an international press conference. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Sylvan Beach's national animal is the deer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Sylvan Beach is ranked 118,492^nd in the world and 1^st in Sylvan Beach for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 658.06 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.