The United Socialist States of Volnya is a very large, genial nation, renowned for its absence of drug laws, devotion to social welfare, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 335 million Volnyans are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Welfare. The average income tax rate is 72.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Volnyan economy, worth 6.97 trillion Vols 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 Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing. Average income is 20,813 Vols, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Young children are learning advanced physics to scientifically disprove the existence of Santa Claus, citizens re-mortgage their homes to buy lottery tickets, scientists are terrified of fabulous new breakthroughs, and politicians preface their speeches with a declaration that any resemblance to speeches given by individuals living or dead is purely coincidental. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Volnya's national animal is the Bear, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Volnya is ranked 31,088^th in the world and 379^th in The Leftist Assembly for Highest Average Tax Rates, with 72.92 Effective Tax Rate.