The Most Serene Republic of Sparkling Merethin is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, irreverence towards religion, and absence of drug laws. The democratic population of 519 million Sparkling Merethinians hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, liberal, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 30.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Sparkling Merethinian economy, worth 17.2 trillion golden coins a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Uranium Mining industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Furniture Restoration, and Beef-Based Agriculture. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 33,207 golden coins, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.1 times as much as the poorest.

Scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes, business meetings across the country are interrupted by the sound of squeaking whoopee-cushions, the country's famous rainforests are being bulldozed by the mining industry, and sneezing pedestrians are grabbed by alley-lurking doctors. Crime is almost non-existent. Sparkling Merethin's national animal is the axolotl, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Sparkling Merethin is ranked 279,834^th in the world and 133^rd in Sparkalia for Highest Average Incomes, with 33,207.13 Standard Monetary Units.