The State of Marts is a gargantuan, orderly nation, ruled by the Governor with an iron fist, and renowned for its state-planned economy, punitive income tax rates, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 17.488 billion Martsians 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 enormous, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Capital Heights. The average income tax rate is 69.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but stagnant Martsian economy, worth 77.8 trillion betales 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, broadly diversified black market in Beef-Based Agriculture, Soda Sales, Basket Weaving, 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 4,448 betales, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Marts has designated Capital Heights as its capital city, The Governor has just been declared ruler of Marts in an international press conference, the government's official stance on religion is that it is so very silly, and Red Cross demand for body bags is rising while sutures go unused. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Marts's national animal is the deer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Marts is ranked 86,845^th in the world and 1^st in Galicia for Lowest Crime Rates, with 67.63 law-abiding acts per hour.