The Confederacy of The Mire is a fledgling, socially progressive nation, renowned for its public floggings and compulsory military service. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 6 million Mireans have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The relatively small government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 13.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The Mirean economy, worth 268 billion marks a year, is fairly diversified and led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Basket Weaving, and Arms Manufacturing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 44,680 marks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.9 times as much as the poorest.

Thieves are flogged in public for their crimes, it is a crime to offend someone's religious beliefs, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, and scientists regularly clone human beings for research purposes. Crime, especially youth-related, is relatively low. The Mire's national animal is the fox, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

The Mire is ranked 155,934^th in the world and 35^th in Lands End for Largest Manufacturing Sector, scoring 7,959 on the Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index.