The Most Serene Republic of RiverLorn is a colossal, genial nation, notable for its compulsory military service, ban on automobiles, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate population of 5.268 billion RiverLornians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Education, and Environment. The average income tax rate is 76.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The large but underdeveloped RiverLornian economy, worth 142 trillion Rings a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is extremely specialized, is mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Pizza Delivery. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 27,078 Rings, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Depression sinks in after each election when voters realize they are stuck with these people for years, the nation's navy has been named the scourge of the seven thousand seas, truncheon-mounted cameras record the beating of criminals in dynamic HD detail, and the government seeks peaceful forum with terrorists. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. RiverLorn's national animal is the Elk, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

RiverLorn is ranked 281,423^rd in the world and 10,822^nd in Balder for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring -89.64 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.