The Federal Republic of Ripsylvania is a massive, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Prime Minister Gustavus with a fair hand, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, rampant corporate plagiarism, and soft-spoken computers. The compassionate, democratic population of 2.141 billion Ripsylvanians hold their civil and political rights very dear, although the wealthy and those in business tend to be viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, liberal government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Breitenfeld. The average income tax rate is 85.2%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The all-consuming Ripsylvanian economy, worth 237 trillion scritches 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 led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Trout Farming, Tourism, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 111,058 scritches, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Cutting-edge missile systems are being retrofitted to twin-prop air force biplanes, the justice of Ripsylvania is considered superior to that of other nations, failed genetic experiments wreak havoc as they roam the countryside, and UFO sightings are listed daily in the morning news. Crime is totally unknown. Ripsylvania's national animal is the Wooly Scragglemuffin, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ripsylvania is ranked 225,263^rd in the world and 7,820^th in The East Pacific for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -10.1 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.