The Corporate Federation of Maritzal is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by President Cornelius Crewes with an iron fist, and notable for its sprawling nuclear power plants, restrictive gun laws, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 16.429 billion Maritzalians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The relatively small, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Law & Order, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Meridian. The average income tax rate is 96.2%.

The frighteningly efficient Maritzalian economy, worth a remarkable 9,297 trillion Pistas a year, is quite specialized and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Information Technology, Retail, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is a breathtaking 565,911 Pistas, with the richest citizens earning 6.3 times as much as the poorest.

Homeless people are frequently charged with trespassing on public property, the internal market is thriving, labour strikes are routinely squashed by police, and clowns are being rounded up and admitted to mental institutions. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Maritzal's national animal is the Cat, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Maritzal is ranked 291,129^th in the world and 1,448^th in Europe for Safest, scoring 2.06 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.