The Democratic Republic of Ricore is a titanic, environmentally stunning nation, ruled by Norbert Michelange with a fair hand, and remarkable for its rum-swilling pirates, enforced nudity, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, democratic, devout population of 12.32 billion Breakfasts enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The medium-sized, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Education, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Rififi Lumière. The average income tax rate is 50.5%.

The all-consuming Ricoréan economy, worth a remarkable 1,194 trillion biscottes a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Retail, Book Publishing, and Basket Weaving. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 96,965 biscottes, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 3.8 times as much as the poorest.

Political gridlock ensues as even the most innocuous legislation is vetoed by the Supreme Court for potential civil rights violations, religious households enthusiastically use whips in private, evenings at university debating societies often end with everyone acknowledging both sides may well be right, and late night adverts for breast milk co-ops regularly win pornography industry awards. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Ricore's national animal is the marsupilami, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Bilingualism.

Ricore is ranked 17,944^th in the world and 2^nd in Lewisham for Nicest Citizens, with 23.56 average smiles per day.