The State of Martyne is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by High Commissioner with an even hand, and notable for its zero percent divorce rate, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 37.632 billion Martyneans are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Law & Order, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Capital Heights. The average income tax rate is 78.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The enormous but underdeveloped Martynean economy, worth a remarkable 1,175 trillion betales 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 Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Automobile Manufacturing, and Furniture Restoration. Average income is 31,227 betales, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Martyne has designated Capital Heights as its capital city, High Commissioner has just been declared ruler of Martyne in an international press conference, a major religion has been named as Martyne's national religion, and the institution of marriage is held sacred and strictly enforced. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Martyne's national animal is the deer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Martyne is ranked 232,460^th in the world and 49^th in Rae for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 27.56 on the Bus Surprisal Index.