The Republic of Sulfonylurea is a massive, efficient nation, notable for its prohibition of alcohol, keen interest in outer space, and public floggings. The compassionate, devout population of 2.468 billion Sulfonylureans are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 54.0%.

The powerhouse Sulfonylurean economy, worth 222 trillion florins 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, fairly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Tourism. 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 90,251 florins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.7 times as much as the poorest.

Families waiting for delayed pipe installations hope daily for rain, cheese lovers have a case of the bleus, councils up and down the country wrangle over legal matters, and travelers often bring empty plastic bottles on Air Sulfonylurea flights to avoid the pay lavatories. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Sulfonylurea's national animal is the archaebacterium, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Sulfonylurea is ranked 56,629^th in the world and 3^rd in House of the Rising Sun for Nicest Citizens, with 17.01 average smiles per day.