The Holy Empire of Mardunia is a very large, cultured nation, remarkable for its ban on automobiles, infamous sell-swords, and hatred of cheese. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 196 million Mardunians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The large, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Law & Order, and Education. The average income tax rate is 66.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Mardunian economy, worth 2.42 trillion human skulls 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 a slick, highly efficient, highly specialized black market in Trout Farming, Tourism, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. 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 12,344 human skulls, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Decreased demand for toilets is saving the prison service a lot of money, jumping in puddles after rainstorms has become an indoor activity, science labs across the country languish in cobwebs as the government turns its attentions to spiritual matters, and genetic research has been halted. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Mardunia's national animal is the sun, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Mardunia is ranked 19,225^th in the world and 517^th in the South Pacific for Most Beautiful Environments, with 1,053.38 pounds of wildlife per square mile.