The People's Republic of Nicals is a large, safe nation, notable for its state-planned economy, irreverence towards religion, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate population of 169 million Nicalsians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 74.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Nicalsian economy, worth 2.59 trillion Ducks 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 dominated by the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Pizza Delivery, and Uranium Mining. Average income is 15,335 Ducks, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Bike rage is all the rage, homeowners are evicted to make way for new runways, the Smalltopian embassy doubles as an electoral campaign headquarters, and mantis shrimp studies is academia's fastest-growing field. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Nicals's national animal is the Duck, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Nicals is ranked 87,282^nd in the world and 732^nd in the Pacific for Smartest Citizens, with 38.14 quips per hour.