The Republic of Marktrah is a massive, cultured nation, ruled by Markus Monroe with an even hand, and renowned for its soft-spoken computers, anti-smoking policies, and infamous sell-swords. The hard-nosed population of 2.727 billion Marktrahians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The medium-sized, corrupt, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Whitebridge. The average income tax rate is 94.7%.

The frighteningly efficient Marktrahian economy, worth 551 trillion Denariis a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, and Beef-Based Agriculture. Average income is an amazing 202,255 Denariis, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Country folk are sent to obligatory boarding schools to learn how to be civilized, human pie shops continue to receive shipments of meat from Spleeny Rodd's, increasing inclusiveness is a sign of the times, and viewers get headaches from trying to read the screen full of small print warnings that precede most TV shows. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Marktrah's national animal is the Lion, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Celtism.

Marktrah is ranked 4,529^th in the world and 7^th in The Order of the Grey Wardens for Most Cultured, scoring 167 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.