The Sovereignty of Cartiga is a gargantuan, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Elizabeth Comstock with an iron fist, and renowned for its museums and concert halls, keen interest in outer space, and national health service. The hard-nosed, cynical, cheerful, devout population of 25.176 billion Cartigans are ruled with an iron fist by the dictatorship government, which ensures that no-one outside the party gets too rich. In their personal lives, however, citizens are relatively unoppressed; it remains to be seen whether this is because the government genuinely cares about its people, or if it hasn't gotten around to stamping out civil rights yet.

The medium-sized, corrupt, socially-minded, well-organized government prioritizes Defense, although Education, Administration, and Environment are also considered important, while Social Policy and International Aid receive no funds. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of New Milan. The average income tax rate is 89.9%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Cartigan economy, worth a remarkable 8,184 trillion drachmas a year, is highly specialized and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, Basket Weaving, and Tourism. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an amazing 325,082 drachmas, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A girl's success in life is often linked to her performance in beauty pageants, an IT mega-corporation has a patent pending on the rectangle, any body part that can be cut off a person is no longer considered to be their property, and light entertainment isn't dead. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Cartiga's national animal is the eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies, and its national religion is Gottgläubigkeit.

Cartiga is ranked 16,350^th in the world and 15^th in Fifth Empire for Most Subsidized Industry, scoring 7,913.71 on the Gilded Widget Scale.