The Cornelian Dominion of Maritzal is a titanic, cultured nation, ruled by Cornelius I with an even hand, and notable for its public floggings, sprawling nuclear power plants, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless population of 21.121 billion Maritzalians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The tiny, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Meridian. The average income tax rate is 42.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Maritzalian economy, worth an astonishing 10,600 trillion Pistas a year, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Retail, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Black market activity is rampant. Average income is a breathtaking 501,910 Pistas, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.7 times as much as the poorest.

Citizens are bombarded with advertising from their compulsory miniature radios, new legislators take a week-long class entitled "Keeping Your Job: How to Avoid Offending Cornelius I", anti-government political posters adorn every building like wallpaper, and voters must decide whether to go number one or number two. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Maritzal's national animal is the Cat, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is The Order Of Our Lord Cornelius.

Maritzal is ranked 38^th in the world and 1^st in Europe for Most Corrupt Governments, with 1,619.64 kickbacks per hour.