The Corporate Federation of Maritzal is a colossal, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by President Cornelius Crewes with an iron fist, and renowned for its closed borders, deadly medical pandemics, and smutty television. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, cheerful population of 9.265 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, well-organized 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 76.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Maritzalian economy, worth a remarkable 3,614 trillion Pistas a year, is mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Information Technology, Retail, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Average income is an amazing 390,070 Pistas, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.3 times as much as the poorest.

Unruly families are deliberately marooned on desert islands, the price of freedom is about half a million Pistas, school lockers are filled with fancy underwear, and career advisors ask sociopathic orphan girls if they have considered becoming professional assassins. Crime, especially youth-related, is pervasive, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. 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 151,274^th in the world and 644^th in Europe for Greatest Rich-Poor Divides, with 2.29 Rich To Poor Income Ratio.