The Holy Empire of Mardunia is a huge, cultured nation, remarkable for its triple-decker prams, compulsory military service, and ban on automobiles. The hard-nosed, cynical, devout population of 273 million Mardunians 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 large, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Law & Order, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Daiamar. The average income tax rate is 66.4%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Mardunian economy, worth 10.7 trillion human skulls 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 slick, highly efficient, highly specialized black market in Trout Farming, Tourism, and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. 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 39,074 human skulls, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Wrongful arrests abound as 'criminals' blame the guy next to them, soldiers go to war dressed in cassocks and robes, it is said that a Mardunian woman's work is never done, and former bars are desperately trying to re-brand themselves as cafés. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Mardunia's national animal is the sun, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Mardunia is ranked 286,023^rd in the world and 5,262^nd in the South Pacific for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring -255.97 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.