The Swirling Stars of Merethin is a mammoth, safe nation, ruled by Iris with a fair hand, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, infamous sell-swords, and digital currency. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 5.994 billion Merethinians love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, socially-minded, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Merethin City. The average income tax rate is 99.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Merethinian economy, worth a remarkable 1,280 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 mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is an amazing 213,667 golden coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Paranoid museum guards keep a lookout for any animated displays attempting to escape the premises after dark, state dairy cow's milk is a shear-thickening fluid that can stop small-caliber bullets, psychiatrists bizarrely accompany Iris to meetings with foreign heads of state, and third world countries are rich in "I Love Merethin City" t-shirts. Crime, especially youth-related, 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, and its national religion is Star Sister.

Merethin is ranked 328,740^th in the world and 542^nd in Starlight for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring -15.44 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.