Spotlight on:

“'It's a mad world this modern living.' (yyy)”

The Free Land of Matraunk is a massive, socially progressive nation, remarkable for its museums and concert halls. Its hard-nosed, intelligent population of 1.657 billion are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whoever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The large, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Education, Social Equality, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 5%, but much higher for the wealthy. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising fourteen-year-old boys selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

Military funding has been stripped back, teenagers across the country are celebrating the defeat of a national curfew bill, abortions are routinely performed in Matraunk's hospitals, and sex offenders find themselves 'cut off' from any ability to repeat their crimes. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is crippling, and the police force struggles against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Matraunk's national animal is the bozji medved, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the matronij.

Matraunk is ranked 2472nd in the region and 54,023rd in the world for Largest Furniture Restoration Industry.