The New Shimmer of Palaemon is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, complete lack of prisons, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate population of 33.255 billion Palaemonians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Pompeii. The average income tax rate is 85.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Palaemonian economy, worth a remarkable 4,511 trillion palaes a year, is led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 135,667 palaes, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Park rangers perform full-body searches on suspected fungus smugglers, sausages are seldom seen in the supermarket, skateboarding is considered a form of diplomacy, and the nation's only university is the School of Hard Knocks. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Palaemon's national animal is the angora cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is philosophical debate.

Palaemon is ranked 13,648^th in the world and 1^st in Freshness for Smartest Citizens, with 82.21 quips per hour.