The Republic of Cawlt is a small, orderly nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, compulsory military service, and complete absence of social welfare. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, devout population of 32 million Riches are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The tiny, pro-business, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Defense, and Law & Order. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 7.1%.

The thriving Rij economy, worth 2.31 trillion dollars a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Gambling industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Woodchip Exports, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 72,055 dollars, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 255,053 per year while the poor average 14,697, a ratio of 17.4 to 1.

The country's famous rainforests are being bulldozed by the mining industry, all major public areas are watched by police surveillance cameras, the nation's atlases tend to go out of date every few weeks, and hunters often become the hunted. Crime is moderate, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Cawlt's national animal is the falcon, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to toxic air pollution.

Cawlt is ranked 77,199^th in the world and 10^th in The Embassy for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 37.8 on the Bus Surprisal Index.