The United Kingdom of Markanissa is a small, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its compulsory military service, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The quiet, industrious population of 29 million Markanissians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Education, Welfare, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 43.1%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but inefficient Markanissian economy, worth 1.48 trillion Markanissian Rens a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Pizza Delivery, and Woodchip Exports. Average income is 51,154 Markanissian Rens, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Sailors spend their shore leave helping old ladies cross the street, hospitals fear government fines more than terrorist ransoms, court verdicts are predictable to within a hundredth of a percentage point, and the country is governed by a clique of political insiders known colloquially as The Establishment. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Markanissa's national animal is the bull, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Markanissa is ranked 82,780^th in the world and 1,508^th in the South Pacific for Most Patriotic, with 17.19 flags saluted per person per day.