The Halifax Town Republic of The Shaymen is a titanic, orderly nation, ruled by Freddy Fox with an iron fist, and notable for its daily referendums, national health service, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical, cheerful population of 10.076 billion Shaymenians are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The relatively small, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Shay. The average income tax rate is 25.6%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Shaymenian economy, worth a remarkable 2,623 trillion Dollars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Retail, and Book Publishing. Average income is an amazing 260,366 Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Community organizers have given up going door to door because nobody is home, East Lebatuckese astronauts' favorite game during downtime on the Multinational Space Station is 'I Spy', the military has grudgingly released all top secret information in an effort for greater transparency, and prenuptial contracts have replaced diamond rings in marriage proposals. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown. The Shaymen's national animal is the Fox, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

The Shaymen is ranked 230,343^rd in the world and 2^nd in Happyfax for Most Politically Free, scoring 34.1 on the Diebold Election Inking Scale.