The United Star League of Karthel is a colossal, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by The Twelve Comets with an iron fist, and renowned for its rum-swilling pirates, triple-decker prams, and compulsory military service. The compassionate, cynical population of 3.424 billion Karthelians are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The enormous, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Bennen. The average income tax rate is 72.2%.

The strong Karthelian economy, worth 190 trillion Leaguer Standards a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Woodchip Exports, Information Technology, and Cheese Exports. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 55,549 Leaguer Standards, with the richest citizens earning 5.0 times as much as the poorest.

According to the latest national census as many as two-thirds of the respondents possibly consider 'violet' their favorite color, childhood friends of The Twelve Comets are living it large abroad at the taxpayers' expense, people say that cubists are rubbish because they can't draw faces, and an increasing number of knights in shining armor suffer from PTSD. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Karthel's national animal is the Lyriad, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Cult of Duokarathas.

Karthel is ranked 300,321^st in the world and 119^th in Aeternas for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -13.15 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.