The Rogue Nation of ERAM MARE is a small, environmentally stunning nation, renowned for its ritual sacrifices, compulsory military service, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 29 million Shadow Mantle Holders 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 enormous, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 72.3%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The fragile a Shadow Mantle Holder economy, worth 860 billion Shadow Crystals 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 dominated by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Uranium Mining, Arms Manufacturing, and Retail. Average income is 29,659 Shadow Crystals, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Authorities are looking for a stool pigeon to rat out who is stealing food from pigeon toilets, toy versions of heroin paraphernalia let kids pretend to be their favourite TV characters, diplomatic missions typically end with a flurry of childish insults, accusations and phlegm, and roosters that herald the rising sun are immediately sent to the slaughterhouse. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. ERAM MARE's national animal is the FRIEND, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

ERAM MARE is ranked 316,281^st in the world and 457^th in The UMNS for Largest Populations, with 29.0 million capita.