The Corporate Federation of Maritzal is a colossal, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by President Cornelius Crewes with an iron fist, and renowned for its state-planned economy, strictly enforced bedtime, and anti-smoking policies. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, cheerful population of 8.121 billion Maritzalians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The relatively small, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Administration, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Meridian. The average income tax rate is 91.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Maritzalian economy, worth a remarkable 3,356 trillion Pistas a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is an enormous, deeply entrenched black market in Information Technology, Retail, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an amazing 413,261 Pistas, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.9 times as much as the poorest.

The experimental sculpture "Overtures In Dried Cat Dung" has been declared a national treasure, the Motherland's muscle-bound athletes won 786 medals at the last United Europe Games, it is believed that belligerence is a passing phase foreign leaders will soon outgrow, and the country's famous rainforests are being bulldozed by the mining industry. Crime is totally unknown. Maritzal's national animal is the Cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Atheism.

Maritzal is ranked 1,930^th in the world and 25^th in Europe for Largest Basket Weaving Sector, scoring 9,308.37 on the Hickory Productivity Index.