The Republic of Ritzel is a huge, genial nation, ruled by Vortex with a fair hand, and remarkable for its public floggings, pith helmet sales, and irreverence towards religion. The compassionate, democratic population of 988 million Ritzelians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The medium-sized, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ritzville. The average income tax rate is 50.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Ritzelian economy, worth 117 trillion Ritzes a year, is fairly diversified and dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Cheese Exports. Average income is an impressive 119,025 Ritzes, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

Business owners return from long vacations to find their factories have been turned into homeless shelters, heavy industry must go to expensive lengths to dispose of waste, earthquake sirens are a leading cause of hearing loss, and the government extracts trade concessions from poor nations in exchange for humanitarian aid. Crime is totally unknown. Ritzel's national animal is the Penguin, which frolics freely in the nation's sparkling oceans.

Ritzel is ranked 23,204^th in the world and 717^th in the South Pacific for Smartest Citizens, with 57.22 quips per hour.