The Holy Empire of Cardinal States is a massive, orderly nation, ruled by The Triumvate of Cardinals with an iron fist, and renowned for its infamous sell-swords, prohibition of alcohol, and zero percent divorce rate. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 1.732 billion Cardinalis Discipulums are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Spirituality. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sancta Civitas. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 90.8%.

The powerhouse Cardinal Statesian economy, worth 271 trillion heavenpasses a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is an enormous, deeply entrenched, quite specialized black market in Arms Manufacturing, Uranium Mining, Furniture Restoration, and Woodchip Exports. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 156,937 heavenpasses, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 449,319 per year while the poor average 43,637, a ratio of 10.3 to 1.

Molehills are the only mountains deemed safe enough for the public, organ donation rates are among the lowest in the region, produce labels read 'may contain traces of food', and citizens are regularly arrested in queues for 'loitering'. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Cardinal States's national animal is the Cardinal, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is Cardinal Catechism.

Cardinal States is ranked 260,637^th in the world and 4^th in Confederation of Arcanial Nations for Largest Publishing Industry, scoring -5.2 on the Bella Potter Productivity e-Index.