The Free Domes of Meridiani Planum is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Steven Dessler with an even hand, and notable for its rum-swilling pirates, complete lack of public education, and exploding hoverboards. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, cheerful population of 37.546 billion Meridians enjoy some of the most opulent lifestyles in the region, unless they are unemployed or working-class, in which case they are variously starving to death or crippled by easily preventable diseases.

There is no government in the normal sense of the word; however, a small group of community-minded, liberal, pro-business individuals juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Prometheus Dome. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Meridian economy, worth an astonishing 10,923 trillion libras a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Soda Sales industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Retail. Average income is an amazing 290,932 libras, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,704,326 per year while the poor average 23,255, a ratio of 73.3 to 1.

Children spend all morning taking out a comma and all afternoon putting it back in again, the official Meridian Phrase Book weighs as much as a small child, the government's stance on marriage is 'Let Meridians marry themselves', and textbooks are exactly twice as heavy as they used to be. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, probably because of the absence of a police force. Meridiani Planum's national animal is the beaver, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Prometheanism.

Meridiani Planum is ranked 293,901^st in the world and 126^th in Capitalist Paradise for Lowest Crime Rates, with 2.86 law-abiding acts per hour.