The Republic of Ry-1 is a mammoth, pleasant nation, remarkable for its ritual sacrifices. The hard-nosed population of 7.999 billion Ry-1ians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 32.6%.

The large but inefficient Ry-1ian economy, worth 253 trillion marks a year, is led by the Woodchip Exports industry, with major contributions from Automobile Manufacturing, Gambling, and Furniture Restoration. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 31,705 marks, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.7 times as much as the poorest.

Public loudspeakers constantly tell citizens they are "happy people", six-year-old children playing dress-up are viewed with suspicion, military pilots spend more time scraping feathers off their engines than flying their aircraft, and the military will start wars with other nations on a lark. Crime is moderate, possibly because it is difficult to make it through a day without breaking one of the country's many regulations. Ry-1's national animal is the lion.

Ry-1 is ranked 121,497^th in the world and 1^st in Ryukyu Islands for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 664.14 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.