The Cornelian Dominion of Maritzal is a titanic, efficient nation, ruled by Cornelius I with an iron fist, and remarkable for its museums and concert halls, barren, inhospitable landscape, and compulsory military service. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless population of 21.525 billion Maritzalians 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 tiny, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Meridian. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 62.4%.

The frighteningly efficient Maritzalian economy, worth an astonishing 11,795 trillion Pistas a year, is mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Information Technology, Retail, Arms Manufacturing, and Book Publishing. Average income is a breathtaking 548,010 Pistas, with the richest citizens earning 9.3 times as much as the poorest.

The sudden proliferation of nuclear weapons is very queer, boys who even ask about cheerleading are placed on the Sex Offenders Register, the government has cut taxes in the face of widespread tax evasion, and popular political cartoonists are thrown in jail for inciting dissent. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Maritzal's national animal is the Cat, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is The Order Of Our Lord Cornelius.

Maritzal is ranked 310,150^th in the world and 902^nd in Europe for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -34.97 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.