The Democratic States of The Merinos is a massive, genial nation, ruled by President Amadeus Mars with a fair hand, and renowned for its state-planned economy, irreverence towards religion, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic population of 4.979 billion Merinons are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The enormous, liberal government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Lucens oram. The average income tax rate is 82.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Merinosian economy, worth 484 trillion Merinos notes a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. Average income is 97,243 Merinos notes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Traffic cops spend most of their work-hours calculating citizens' monthly income, Occam's razor has sliced to pieces any childhood belief in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, billions are being spent on a new island airport, and the Treasury has been accused of flushing money down the toilet. Crime is totally unknown. The Merinos's national animal is the Entity, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

The Merinos is ranked 61,265^th in the world and 583^rd in Europe for Highest Average Incomes, with 97,243.14 Standard Monetary Units.