The Hopefulness of The Mercy is a titanic, efficient nation, remarkable for its national health service, disturbing lack of elderly people, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, cynical, devout population of 11.049 billion Mercyians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Industry. The average income tax rate is 71.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Mercyian economy, worth 992 trillion pounds a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a large, well-organized, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Automobile Manufacturing, and Uranium Mining. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is 89,839 pounds, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Discarded pennies litter the streets, it is mandatory to learn evolution in schools, it is cheaper to die in the wilderness than to survive, and the fishing lobby has stemmed the tide of environmental regulations. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Mercy's national animal is the elephant, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

The Mercy is ranked 327,919^th in the world and 3^rd in Tropicana for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring -12.69 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.