The Holy Matriarchy of Coldsea is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by Marcus with an even hand, and renowned for its keen interest in outer space, conspicuous electricity pylons, and otherworldly petting zoo. The compassionate population of 5.912 billion Coldials are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Koldhavn. The average income tax rate is 94.0%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Coldial economy, worth 820 trillion gold coins a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is mostly made up of the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Tourism and Book Publishing. Average income is an impressive 138,709 gold coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Preschoolers outnumber veteran politicians in government, the saying "when pigs fly" has been changed to "when the lights work", the recycled air in planes is nauseating, and the endangered saltwater humpback bat is only seen in captivity programs. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Coldsea's national animal is the bat, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Paganism.

Coldsea is ranked 324,499^th in the world and 1,111^th in Carcassonne for Largest Trout Fishing Sector, scoring -12.2 on the Nemo Depletion Efficiency Index.