The State of Melrae is a colossal, socially progressive nation, renowned for its absence of drug laws and spontaneously combusting cars. The hard-working, cynical population of 6.413 billion Melraeans enjoy great individual freedoms in everything except elections, which, where they exist at all, are populist shams for a dictatorship government that has no intention of ever giving up power.

The relatively small, liberal, pro-business, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Capital Heights. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 9.4%.

The very strong Melraean economy, worth 291 trillion betales a year, is quite specialized and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Trout Farming, Book Publishing, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is 45,473 betales, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 235,826 per year while the poor average 4,750, a ratio of 49.6 to 1.

The alarmingly racist TV show 'Bigtopians Say the Darndest Things' is a hit and Melrae has designated Capital Heights as its capital city. Crime is a serious problem. Melrae's national animal is the deer.

Melrae is ranked 111,997^th in the world and 4^th in Utah for Highest Disposable Incomes, with 41,198.71 Standard Monetary Units.