The Twenty Four Free lands of Meropis is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by The Leader with an even hand, and renowned for its free-roaming dinosaurs, anti-smoking policies, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working, humorless population of 24.535 billion Meropisians enjoy extensive civil freedoms, particularly in social issues, while business tends to be more regulated.

The relatively small, corrupt government is primarily concerned with Industry, although Education, Defense, and Healthcare are also considered important, while Spirituality and International Aid are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of The Big Place. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 4.9%.

The frighteningly efficient Meropisian economy, worth an astonishing 12,780 trillion Pompas a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Retail, and Book Publishing. Black market activity is extensive. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is a breathtaking 520,914 Pompas, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,815,061 per year while the poor average 108,847, a ratio of 16.7 to 1.

Offering a builder a cup of tea is a legal minefield, the government has enacted freedom of information, annual Formula One races bring the capital to a screeching halt, and thousands of picky mothers-in-law have been recruited to serve as even pickier cookery instructors. Crime, especially youth-related, is so common that it is unusual to encounter someone following the law, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Meropis's national animal is the Bombus Terrestris, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is The Truth.

Meropis is ranked 580^th in the world and 5^th in Europe for Largest Gambling Industry, scoring 24,850.5 on the Kelly Criterion Productivity Index.