The State of Carmel Ridge is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Liard with an iron fist, and remarkable for its compulsory military service, state-planned economy, and devotion to social welfare. The cynical, devout population of 15.091 billion Carmel Ridgeans are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of District City. The average income tax rate is 66.3%.

The large but underdeveloped Carmel Ridgean economy, worth 529 trillion betales a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is mostly made up of the Trout Farming industry, with significant contributions from Tourism, Book Publishing, and Information Technology. Average income is 35,076 betales, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.1 times as much as the poorest.

The government's official stance on religion is that it is so very silly, court cases mostly involve lawyers shouting questions at witnesses giving silent shrugs, the government is financing an extremely costly war against malaria, and virtually all of the country's economic activity takes place in District City. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Carmel Ridge's national animal is the deer, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Carmel Ridge is ranked 55,635^th in the world and 22^nd in 0000 for Lowest Crime Rates, with 72.73 law-abiding acts per hour.