The Meritocratic Island of Neptide is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Prime Minister Laconicus with a fair hand, and remarkable for its multi-spousal wedding ceremonies, daily referendums, and rampant corporate plagiarism. The compassionate, democratic population of 21.83 billion Neptideans hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, liberal government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Environment, and Education. The average income tax rate is 72.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Neptidean economy, worth a remarkable 1,596 trillion New Merits a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Gambling. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 73,133 New Merits, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.2 times as much as the poorest.

The number of students attending university has reached a record high, billions of New Merits are being poured into a space program, citizens are allowed to rise or fall based on their own merits, and refugees from other nations are flocking to Neptide's border. Crime is well under control. Neptide's national animal is the Dolphin, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans, and its national religion is Hellenismos.

Neptide is ranked 114,133^rd in the world and 9^th in The New Meritocracy for Highest Crime Rates, with 6.34 crimes per hour.