The Republic of Courelli is a colossal, socially progressive nation, ruled by Governor Joshua B Thomas with a fair hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, keen interest in outer space, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 8.315 billion Courellians 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 government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Leoncavallo. The average income tax rate is 98.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Courellian economy, worth a remarkable 1,486 trillion Golden Dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Retail. Average income is an impressive 178,758 Golden Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The banshee wail foretells skies of death, a weakened police force struggles to maintain law and order, students memorise knock-knock jokes for their mandatory twice-a-term Comedy Examinations, and animal liberationists receive government funding to break into animal research labs. Crime is totally unknown. Courelli's national animal is the Eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Dalinism.

Courelli is ranked 131,271^st in the world and 27^th in The Social Liberal Union for Largest Black Market, with 220 billion Standard Monetary Units.