The Republic of Marquestan is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by President Bjorn Halvorsen with a fair hand, and notable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and triple-decker prams. The hard-working, democratic population of 1.718 billion Marqustanes are known throughout the region for their efficiency and work ethic, as well as their general suspicion of leisure.

The medium-sized, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Lysvik. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 23.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Marquestanian economy, worth 166 trillion Marqus a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Gambling, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 96,663 Marqus, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 279,947 per year while the poor average 26,450, a ratio of 10.6 to 1.

Soldiers are issued comics about superheroes punching unflattering caricatures of their enemies, people accuse the government of being in bed with Big Safety, not showing enough enthusiasm for mutual assured destruction is a court-martial offence, and bureaucrats close new businesses for not complying with the Penguin Packaging Index. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Marquestan's national animal is the Frostmaw, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Christianity.

Marquestan is ranked 186,445^th in the world and 3^rd in Artic for Highest Average Tax Rates, with 23.41 Effective Tax Rate.