The Rogue Nation of ERAM MARE is a small, environmentally stunning nation, notable for its pith helmet sales, compulsory military service, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 40 million Shadow Mantle Holders 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 Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 72.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but sluggish a Shadow Mantle Holder economy, worth 1.21 trillion Shadow Crystals a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is dominated by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Uranium Mining, Arms Manufacturing, and Retail. Average income is 30,284 Shadow Crystals, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

"Leader got your tongue?" has become a popular idiom, anyone who so much as frowns risks being referred to a mental health unit, frustrated teenage boys are told that if they like it then they should have put a ring on it, and glittering new sports stadiums adorn every city and town. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. ERAM MARE's national animal is the FRIEND, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

ERAM MARE is ranked 26,584^th in the world and 60^th in The UMNS for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring 5,886.48 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.