The Democratic Republic of Ortalis is a titanic, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Etienne Jackson with an even hand, and renowned for its smutty television, national health service, and prohibition of alcohol. The compassionate, cheerful population of 20.43 billion Ortalians are fiercely patriotic and enjoy great social equality; they tend to view other, more capitalist countries as somewhat immoral and corrupt.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Sanctuary. The average income tax rate is 97.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Ortalisian economy, worth a remarkable 2,679 trillion dollars a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing and Information Technology. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 131,140 dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A fashion designer has been arrested for inciting hatred after claiming redheads couldn't pull off vermillion, activists sabotage clean energy in the name of the environment, you're never too young to learn how to lie with confidence, and armed war-criminals gain asylum if deemed 'fabulous' enough. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ortalis's national animal is the dog, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ortalis is ranked 307,094^th in the world and 2,684^th in the West Pacific for Largest Insurance Industry, scoring -24.7 on the Risk Expulsion Effectiveness Rating.