The New Shimmer of Palaemon is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its daily referendums, restrictive gun laws, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 27.843 billion Palaemonians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Pompeii. The average income tax rate is 84.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Palaemonian economy, worth a remarkable 3,698 trillion palaes a year, is led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 132,829 palaes, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The nation's democracy attracts huddled masses yearning to breathe free, social networking sites have discussion groups devoted to planning terrorist attacks, viewers get headaches from trying to read the screen full of small print warnings that precede most TV shows, and anti-vaxxers claim that injected children are prone to psychotic breaks when they see the 'Queen of Diamonds' playing card. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Palaemon's national animal is the angora cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is philosophical debate.

Palaemon is ranked 27,586^th in the world and 2^nd in Freshness for Lowest Crime Rates, with 84.21 law-abiding acts per hour.