The Republic of Berman is a mammoth, efficient nation, ruled by Ada Janssen with an iron fist, and notable for its complete lack of prisons, fear of technology, and strictly enforced bedtime. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, devout population of 7.245 billion Bermanians are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The tiny, pro-business government prioritizes Defense, with Industry and Education also on the agenda, while Welfare and International Aid are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Eiffeleininger. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 8.0%.

The all-consuming Bermanian economy, worth 703 trillion marks a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Retail, Automobile Manufacturing, and Gambling. Average income is 97,096 marks, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 313,803 per year while the poor average 22,704, a ratio of 13.8 to 1.

Foreigners are treated with great suspicion, the government extracts trade concessions from poor nations in exchange for humanitarian aid, a new generation of space-obsessed youth are convinced there's nothing out there, and families returning from international vacations are unable to get their children back into the country. Crime is a serious problem, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Berman's national animal is the Alpine Ibex, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Paganism.

Berman is ranked 316,944^th in the world and 2^nd in Parkland for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring -85 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.