The Holy Blue Zombie Republic of Merethin is a huge, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its rum-swilling pirates, anti-smoking policies, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic population of 710 million Merethinians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Merethin City. The average income tax rate is 84.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The powerhouse Merethinian economy, worth 62.4 trillion golden coins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is 87,878 golden coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Centuries-old marble buildings are being torn down and replaced with corrugated steel wind tunnels, the government has instituted 'traveller reservations' across the country, modelling agencies send their clients to work in nursing homes, and dining out often involves axolotls on the plate no matter what you order. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Merethin's national animal is the axolotl, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Merethin is ranked 12,172^nd in the world and 27^th in Nordic Lands for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 10,194.56 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.