The Colony of Merope is a massive, socially progressive nation, ruled by Legate Thalia Richards with a fair hand, and remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape and compulsory military service. The hard-working, democratic population of 3.506 billion Meropeans enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The tiny, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Defense. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Corinth. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 8.1%.

The strong Meropean economy, worth 254 trillion Neo-Terran credits a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Furniture Restoration, Uranium Mining, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 72,493 Neo-Terran credits, with the richest citizens earning 7.5 times as much as the poorest.

Legate Thalia Richards has just been declared ruler of Merope in an international press conference, Tellurism has been named as Merope's national religion, elevator music has been replaced by thrash metal played at maximum volume, and artists are pillars of society. Crime, especially youth-related, is almost non-existent. Merope's national animal is the stone rhino, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities, and its national religion is Tellurism.

Merope is ranked 67,021^st in the world and 18^th in The Local Cluster for Nicest Citizens, with 15.51 average smiles per day.