The Empire of Ritchington II is a gargantuan, socially progressive nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, infamous sell-swords, and irreverence towards religion. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic population of 12.293 billion Ritchians live in a state of perpetual fear, as a complete breakdown of social order has led to the rise of order through biker gangs.

The tiny government juggles the competing demands of Education, Industry, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Dives. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 8.3%.

The all-consuming Ritchington IIian economy, worth a remarkable 1,200 trillion Rins a year, is broadly diversified and dominated by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Retail, and Book Publishing. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 97,634 Rins, with the richest citizens earning 5.9 times as much as the poorest.

Violently opinionated speakers can be heard preaching their hateful views on every street corner, whales in captivity live in little more than glorified goldfish bowls, people often get liposuction to reduce their air fares, and the new foreign policy is "why bother invading neighbours when they can be bought wholesale?". Crime, especially youth-related, is moderate, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Ritchington II's national animal is the Elephant, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ritchington II is ranked 35,696^th in the world and 2,106^th in Balder for Highest Food Quality, scoring 48.89 on the Meeshlin-Starr Index.