The Holy Empire of Mercna is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Emperor Peror with an iron fist, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, infamous sell-swords, and compulsory military service. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 1.576 billion Mercnans 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 large, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Rema. The average income tax rate is 73.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Mercnan economy, worth 217 trillion Soliduses a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Retail, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 137,986 Soliduses, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.5 times as much as the poorest.

The only way to escape lengthy prison terms is in a body bag, the Department of Health is snowed under by requests for crisper ciabatta and tenderer tagliatelle, straitjackets are a common religious garb, and heterosexuality is considered positive proof of fitness to parent. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Mercna's national animal is the lion, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Mithraism.

Mercna is ranked 261,293^rd in the world and 9,154^th in Lazarus for Most Primitive, scoring -193.48 on the Scary Big Number Scale.