The Merchant Republic of Cladachia is a colossal, efficient nation, ruled by Saorsa Cladach with a fair hand, and remarkable for its frequent executions, public floggings, and sprawling nuclear power plants. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic, humorless population of 4.654 billion Cladites are effectively ruled by a group of massive corporations, who run for political office and provide their well-off citizens with world-class goods and services. Their poorer citizens, however, are mostly starving to death while being urged to go out and get real jobs. The populace has reasonably extensive civil rights, although these are mostly aimed at allowing them to buy whatever they like.

The minute, corrupt, pro-business, outspoken government, or what there is of one, is solely concerned with Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Goldspire. Income tax is unheard of.

The frighteningly efficient Cladachian economy, worth 805 trillion gold coins a year, is driven almost entirely by the private sector, which is broadly diversified and led by the Retail industry, with significant contributions from Soda Sales, Gambling, and Arms Manufacturing. Average income is an impressive 173,103 gold coins, but there is a vast disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,264,258 per year while the poor average 7,348, a ratio of 172 to 1.

Nobody wants to know how the sausage is made, voters are one of the nation's top imports, Lady Justice's blindfold slips when the conventionally attractive are tried, and life is somewhat repetitive. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Cladachia's national animal is the pet rock, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is capitalism.

Cladachia is ranked 8,510^th in the world and 1^st in Swallowtail for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring 5,974.07 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.