The Kingdom of Rising Starr is a huge, safe nation, remarkable for its barren, inhospitable landscape, prohibition of alcohol, and enslaved workforce. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 352 million Rising Starrians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized, moralistic government prioritizes Education, with Defense, Healthcare, and Law & Order also on the agenda, while Spirituality and Social Policy receive no funds. The average income tax rate is 23.5%.

The thriving Rising Starrian economy, worth 21.2 trillion gems a year, is led by the Retail industry, with major contributions from Basket Weaving, Uranium Mining, and Pizza Delivery. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 60,203 gems, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.1 times as much as the poorest.

Cheese lovers have a case of the bleus, children are raised bilingual from an early age, the nation's once beautiful countryside has turned brown as farmers spray potent pesticides, and all government facilities are built in the subterranean citadel of Rising Starr City. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Rising Starr's national animal is the tiger, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

Rising Starr is ranked 77,395^th in the world and 63^rd in Byzantion for Most Cheerful Citizens, with 50.99 Percentage Of Water Glasses Perceived Half-Full.