The City-States of Al Carais is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Grand Nomarch Sefu with an iron fist, and notable for its museums and concert halls, keen interest in outer space, and multi-spousal wedding ceremonies. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, devout population of 31.269 billion Caraisians are rabid consumers, partly through choice and partly because the government tells them to and dissenters tend to vanish from their homes at night.

The tiny, corrupt, pro-business government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Tyr Kelador. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 5.5%.

The frighteningly efficient Al Caraisian economy, worth a remarkable 5,480 trillion myrrhs a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Arms Manufacturing, and Gambling. Black market activity is frequent. Average income is an impressive 175,263 myrrhs, but there is an enormous disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 988,625 per year while the poor average 15,288, a ratio of 64.7 to 1.

Suspicious glow-in-the-dark wasps remain a source of terror and awe, shanty towns are forming in the suburbs of major cities, judges are all-powerful, and the judicial branch is strongly influenced by major corporations. Crime, especially youth-related, is pervasive, with the police force struggling against a lack of funding and a high mortality rate. Al Carais's national animal is the griffin, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is worship of water and wind.

Al Carais is ranked 8,117^th in the world and 2^nd in Lodoss for Most Corrupt Governments, with 173.85 kickbacks per hour.