The Steel Refuge of Cardinal Alliance is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its compulsory military service, keen interest in outer space, and daily referendums. The compassionate, democratic population of 773 million Sparkforgeds love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The large government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Nexus. The average income tax rate is 54.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Cardinal Alliancean economy, worth 22.8 trillion Energy Credits a year, is led by the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Automobile Manufacturing, Pizza Delivery, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 29,471 Energy Credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Doctors accused of having no heart reply that cardiology isn't their speciality, blind dates reemerge as a necessary evil in the quest for love, Leader has just been declared ruler of Cardinal Alliance in an international press conference, and children must be board certified to append "Jr" to their name. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Cardinal Alliance's national animal is the Bear, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Cardinal Alliance is ranked 248,566^th in the world and 21^st in The Fallout Wasteland for Highest Drug Use, scoring 55.61 on the Pineapple Fondness Rating.