The Empire of Nadelbaume is a tiny, efficient nation, notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, flagrant waste-dumping, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 14 million Nadelbaumeans are either ruled by a sleek, efficient government or a conglomerate of multinational corporations; it's difficult to tell which.

The tiny, pro-business government is primarily concerned with Defense, with Spirituality, Education, and Law & Order also on the agenda, while International Aid and Welfare are ignored. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 6.9%.

The very strong Nadelbaumean economy, worth 1.05 trillion Deniers a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Gambling, Uranium Mining, and Information Technology. Average income is 74,903 Deniers, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 354,138 per year while the poor average 9,378, a ratio of 37.8 to 1.

Possession of tomato seeds with intent to garden is a criminal offence, there is a growing belief that consciousness is a simulated illusion within a computer-generated reality, surprising numbers of poor people are protesting against taxing the rich, and bins outnumber trees in city parks. Crime is a problem, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Nadelbaume's national animal is the Gothic eagle , which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.

Nadelbaume is ranked 266,257^th in the world and 148^th in The Wellspring for Safest, scoring 21.69 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.