The Free Land of Upper Ryu Lorty is a massive, safe nation, ruled by Mister Leader with an iron fist, and notable for its museums and concert halls, ubiquitous missile silos, and punitive income tax rates. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 2.754 billion Upper Ryu-Lortyians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The large, corrupt, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Law & Order, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Loryuer. The average income tax rate is 54.7%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The strong Upper Ryu Lortyian economy, worth 158 trillion octothorpes a year, is highly specialized and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing, Cheese Exports, and Pizza Delivery. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 57,605 octothorpes, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 2.1 times as much as the poorest.

Children play a simplified version of hopscotch, body doubles and armed bodyguards escort witnesses to and from courtrooms, the nation's orphanages and maternity wards have been nicknamed 'the Killbot Factories', and Bigtopian relations have become a minefield. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Upper Ryu Lorty's national animal is the thylacine, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Ryuanism.

Upper Ryu Lorty is ranked 221,051^st in the world and 1,497^th in the South Pacific for Largest Black Market, with 305 billion Standard Monetary Units.