The Galactic Empire of Riptaria is a titanic, orderly nation, ruled by general degaras with an iron fist, and remarkable for its complete lack of prisons, public floggings, and strictly enforced bedtime. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless population of 17.834 billion Riptarians 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 medium-sized, corrupt, moralistic, well-organized government is effectively ruled by the Department of Defense, although Law & Order is also considered important, while Social Policy and Environment receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of riptaria city. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Riptarian economy, worth an astonishing 13,459 trillion ripion doller and pound ripions 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, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, and Uranium Mining. 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 a breathtaking 754,734 ripion doller and pound ripions, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.5 times as much as the poorest.

Suburban residents are told not to panic while hitchhikers swarm their neighborhoods, the military has forsaken terrestrial warfare, tourists visiting the nation are harangued for being capitalist pig-dogs, and strange looking men with big red noses are found hiding behind bushes and inside dustbins. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Riptaria's national animal is the slave, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Atheism.

Riptaria is ranked 331,643^rd in the world and 59^th in The United Federations for Safest, scoring 2.27 on the Bubble-Rapp Safety Rating.