The Republic of Mushroom Union is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its state-planned economy, avant-garde cinema, and otherworldly petting zoo. The compassionate, democratic population of 357 million Shroomers are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Mushroom Port. The average income tax rate is 68.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The Shroom economy, worth 19.8 trillion Nelphs 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 Trout Farming industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Information Technology, and Pizza Delivery. Average income is 55,458 Nelphs, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The best way to be heard in politics is to speak softly and carry a big comedy prop, skateparks can be found in every city, calling dibs is an unalienable right, and sexually-starved male dinosaurs terrorise tourists during weekly breakouts from Mesozoic Park. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Mushroom Union's national animal is the Goombas, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Mushroom Union is ranked 50,689^th in the world and 563^rd in Europe for Lowest Crime Rates, with 74.11 law-abiding acts per hour.