The Democratic Republic of Palandrum is a huge, efficient nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, complete absence of social welfare, and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-nosed, hard-working, devout population of 925 million Palandrumians are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The tiny, pro-business government is primarily concerned with Spirituality, although Education, Healthcare, and Law & Order are also considered important, while Social Policy and Welfare aren't funded at all. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 6.4%.

The very strong Palandrumian economy, worth 59.6 trillion lire a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Cheese Exports, Soda Sales, and Tourism. Average income is 64,425 lire, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 235,522 per year while the poor average 12,500, a ratio of 18.8 to 1.

Citizens are barcoded to keep track of their movements, extreme political groups are outlawed, competing private ambulances racing to be the first to traffic accidents are a major cause of road accidents, and euthanasia is illegal. Crime is moderate, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Palandrum's national animal is the panther, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Palandrum is ranked 256,229^th in the world and 15^th in The Frozen Snow Bloc for Most Compassionate Citizens, scoring 40.11 on the Kitten Softness Rating.