The Ever Dutiful Wife of Maiden Persephone is a mammoth, orderly nation, notable for its avant-garde cinema, punitive income tax rates, and suspicion of poets. The compassionate, cynical, humorless, devout population of 8.446 billion Humans are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The medium-sized, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Elysium. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 69.7%.

The frighteningly efficient Human economy, worth a remarkable 1,416 trillion Grains 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 large, well-organized, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Tourism, and Woodchip Exports. 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 an impressive 167,755 Grains, with the richest citizens earning 6.2 times as much as the poorest.

The government is seen to favor traditionalist religions, broken suspension systems are giving auto repair shops plenty of business, travellers are often forcibly evicted by torch-bearing mobs, and immigrant Maxtopians are routinely sold on popular internet auction sites. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Maiden Persephone's national animal is the Parrot, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Maiden Persephone is ranked 19,682^nd in the world and 105^th in The Underworld of Hell for Largest Black Market, with 173 trillion Standard Monetary Units.