The People's Republic of Black Shoals is a huge, safe nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The democratic population of 650 million Black Shoalians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Moribund. The average income tax rate is 27.8%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish Black Shoalsian economy, worth 17.0 trillion Scales a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Uranium Mining. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 26,146 Scales, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Babies are a small but significant export, police officers often conceal their identities to safeguard against public complaints, a rash of recently-elected candidates have begun to push Bigtopia-friendly policies, and the importance of winning Olympic gold medals is indoctrinated from an early age. Crime is totally unknown. Black Shoals's national animal is the Seagull, which can occasionally be seen dodging aircraft in the nation's cities.

Black Shoals is ranked 317,401^st in the world and 206^th in Eladria for Most Developed, scoring 46.56 on the Human Development Index.