The Sovreign State of Rinotu is a titanic, safe nation, ruled by Prime Chancellor Bryanson with a fair hand, and renowned for its daily referendums, compulsory military service, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, democratic, devout population of 10.283 billion Rinotans love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

The enormous, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Environment, Defense, and Law & Order. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Aaliaria. The average income tax rate is 76.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Rinotan economy, worth 644 trillion Rinoes a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Book Publishing industry, with major contributions from Arms Manufacturing and Information Technology. Average income is 62,632 Rinoes, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Motivational posters send motorists positive vibes in high-risk areas, one-man canoes fitted with the latest tracking technology leave no room for one man, five-hundred-twenty-five-thousand-six-hundred revivals is how theatre-goers measure a year, and with increasingly clear skies nobody seems to mind the electricity bill going through the roof. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Rinotu's national animal is the Falcon, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Rinotu is ranked 71,088^th in the world and 44^th in The Black Hawks for Most Cultured, scoring 68 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.