The Nationalist Nation of Mercian Legions is a huge, efficient nation, renowned for its museums and concert halls, compulsory military service, and digital currency. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 526 million Mercians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, corrupt government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Liberty. The average income tax rate is 70.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Mercian economy, worth 66.1 trillion Imperial Currencies 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, broadly diversified black market in Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, Tourism, and Trout Farming. 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 an impressive 125,737 Imperial Currencies, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.7 times as much as the poorest.

The fire brigade often deal with cases of burnt toast, family isn't who you're born with but who you abandon in foreign countries, summer science camps are regularly raided by narcotics police, and stealing from a clothesline is a serious offence. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Mercian Legions's national animal is the Sand Manticore.

Mercian Legions is ranked 30,412^th in the world and 642^nd in the South Pacific for Most Advanced Public Education, scoring 6,332.19 on the Edu-tellignce® Test Score.