The Commonwealth of Ryepple is a huge, socially progressive nation, renowned for its ban on automobiles, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 223 million Kaelins are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Healthcare. The average income tax rate is 43.3%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Kaelin economy, worth 8.12 trillion Franks a year, is quite specialized and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Tourism, Trout Farming, and Beef-Based Agriculture. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 36,425 Franks, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Group hugs break out during floor votes, the seventh son of a seventh son is fated to be a millionaire, over a third of the seats in sports stadiums have been removed to make room for female-only commodes, and people accuse the government of being in bed with Big Safety. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ryepple's national animal is the White-Breasted Nuthatch, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ryepple is ranked 119,162^nd in the world and 133^rd in Forest for Most Patriotic, with 13.41 flags saluted per person per day.