The State of Marshford is a gargantuan, efficient nation, renowned for its barren, inhospitable landscape, complete lack of prisons, and absence of drug laws. The hard-working, democratic population of 29.481 billion Marshfordians are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.

The minute government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Industry, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Capital Heights. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 5.0%.

The thriving Marshfordian economy, worth a remarkable 1,665 trillion betales a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Retail, and Pizza Delivery. Average income is 56,485 betales, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 163,589 per year while the poor average 15,456, a ratio of 10.6 to 1.

Voting is voluntary, the latest Harry Potter book is a bestseller, and Marshford has designated Capital Heights as its capital city. Crime is a problem, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Marshford's national animal is the deer, which can occasionally be seen sifting through garbage in the nation's cities.

Marshford is ranked 24,892^nd in the world and 2^nd in Tuvalu for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring 7,726.11 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.